Eternal Sunshine
Ariana Grande
2024
Following the controversy of her divorce and newfound romance after the fact, a leading princess of pop utilizes a movie about trying to erase unwanted memories as her guide to navigate through the softly brewing drama.
Dream Pop/Sophisti-Pop/Trap-Pop
BY DA’SHAN “NIGHTSHAWN101” SMITH
MARCH 17, 2024
For quite some type, it felt like pop music had been a little empty. Three years since Ariana Grande dropped her sixth studio album, Positions , much in the landscape started to shift. Despite having a run of releasing live VEVO performances to assist, it seemed as though the Positions era came and went.
In the time span of three years between that album, and the release of her seventh, Eternal Sunshine , Ariana still remained a tangible presence in pop music. In an odd move, she became a judge/coach on the NBC singing competition, ‘The Voice.’ She notched two No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 remixes with The Weeknd. And, most importantly, she started filming the role of Glinda, the ever-so popular good witch of the Broadway musical, ‘Wicked’ (the cinema adaptation is slated to be released on Thanksgiving 2024).
Around the time of “Save Your Tears” and “Die For You” going No. 1, and her filming being paused by a writer’s strike in Hollywood, much had changed on the music front. Taylor Swift ended up dominating with her re-recordings piled on top of new music album releases. Different genres of mall rock made a resurgence thanks to the presence of Olivia Rodrigo at the forefront. Bedroom pop started being taken more seriously, as k-pop returned back to its cult fan fare after exiting the mainstream podium.
Grande’s music partner in crime, The Weeknd started outstreaming the likes of Drake and Bad Bunny. And the trap sound she enjoyed on her past three projects started to work out of favor on a global scale, as acts like Tate McRae and Sabrina Carpenter swooped up fans with the remnants of what remained. Not to mention, her songwriting accomplice, Victoria Monét, finally started receiving breakout global attention for own solo career.
There was no telling what Ariana Grande would do should the time come to release her next studio album. As the time approached, headlines became fabricated and crueler towards her in the gossip mill. The internet was made to believe that she had prophesied “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored” from thank u, next with the help of an actor who portrayed SpongeBob. And somehow in their eyes, the timeline of their union didn’t make sense in regards to the husband of Positions that she’d end up divorcing.
As 2024 kicked off, Grande finally released her highly anticipated lead single, “yes, and?” The reception towards it was lukewarm in comparison to the other leads in her discography. Backed by a house beat that borrows from Madonna’s “Vogue,” the singer masters her whistle register. The song still went No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and globally, as for a week or two, people said “say that sh!t with your chest” while imitating the red lipstick cover art.
But the single choice had been misleading— even when Mariah Carey joined in opposing harmonies on the official remix. People were speculating about a house and EDM styled album— á la Beyoncé’s RENAISSANCE . But on Eternal Sunshine , what we instead get is an “embodiment of sweetener meets thank u, next as the co-president of Republic Records, Wendy Goldstein, promised. That with an overarching presence of Imogen Heap influences with a dash of Robyn.
When the album title of Eternal Sunshine was revealed, audiences were quick to understand the direction the album would take. Yes, and it’s basically conceived after the 2004 film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind . Except, the album itself does not actually play like that. One would expect Ariana Grande to be Kate Winslet’s character Clementine— an outspoken extrovert who is easily bored and likes to switch things up constantly. Except on this album, Grande somewhat coasts along the different waves of her old discography while sprinkling in the subtle improvements she’s experienced since her hiatus from the pop spotlight.
“Intro (end of the world)” is modeled after the structure of how she starts out all her albums. It’s a short, string filled moment that’s less than two minutes. There is a bit of feedback from an acoustic guitar that’s played similarly to 70s styled, soft surfer rock. She’s practically questioning if the lover will be there shall the world end. By far it’s not as strong as her other intros— particularly the strength of “shut up” from Positions .
The following track is not as powerful either, but at least is working for the narrative she’s setting forth. “Bye” falls in line with break up anthems, this one adding a bit more pep in the album’s step with the assistance of post-disco. The album does not find its groove until “don’t want to break up again” which has an instrumental that glitches like the current trend of UK drum and bass. Just as she mentions she “take[s] my time” with processing the relationship, that seems to be the approach to how each word is carefully sung. In a falsetto she sings “I don’t wanna f*ck with your head it’s breaking my heart” and by the ending that hook is addictive enough where you want to relisten.
The middle of the album is the best part and where Grande really hits her stride. For an album that should be based on erasing memories, the strongest portions are in fact where listeners remember the classics of her catalog. “Saturn Returns Interlude” uses planet jargon as a brief spoken portion from a YouTuber astrologist before flowing into the title track.
“Eternal sunshine” falls in line with the motorized trap-pop present on thank u, next . She’s giggling at the start signifying the track will be fire. And throughout the lyrical storytelling we’re getting the one song (out of all of them) that actually plays like the movie. That moment where Clementine starts dating Patrick (portrayed by Elijah Wood) who is picking up tips from her ex, Joel (Jim Carrey). “Now he’s in your bed lying on your chest” and “I found a good boy and he’s on my side” both being performed with a vocal decrescendo. The hook itself is catchy: “I showed you all my demons, all my lies” once again in that signature decrescendo. And of course the “Atari” sound effect.
“Supernatural” is another highlight that follows it immediately. It’s the perfect match of sweetener (the vocals) and thank, u next (the production). At this point, she’s crossed the divorce and is full on in love. There is a poignant moment where male background singers do like a Boyz II Men vocoder styled “ooo … ah aahh.” That emphasizes the album’s ability to accent intricate details.
“True story” has a drum and bass beat that resembles the era of ‘90s and Y2K electro-hop&B. Grande’s style matches the dramatic romanticism of Christina Aguilera— as she states “I’ll play the villain if you need me to.” She begs “give me love” in the tone of what the aforementioned legend did on 2002’s Stripped . While “the boy is mine” is much more R&B, going in the realm and inspiration of Brandy and Monica’s electro-hop&B signature song of the same name. The hook is broken up and stunted to add a flamenco-like flare. Later on the album, the flamenco vibe would come back on “imperfect for you,” with the usage of castanets that clap along to what sounds like a ‘70s pop music spin on Katy Perry’s “Thinking of You.”
Then comes “yes, and?” followed by her next Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” — the latter resembling a mixture of Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” and aspects of Grande’s own “One Last Time.” Oddly this half of the album is a bit dull for those who aren’t pure pop extremists. “I wish i hated you” is the most Imogen Heap of them all, with the style of twinkling that came from her idol’s 2009 album, Ellipse . There are spots of intrigue, for instance the “mmm hmmm” ad-lib that happens during the pre-hook. Finally, “ordinary things” closes out the album like a Positions bonus track and where her Nonna answers the question posed in the intro.
[Editorial note: Ho hum. Standard review indeed. I think it’s just best to skip down to the reasoning for the finalized score]
“don’t wanna break up again” for the sophisticated drum and bass production.
“eternal sunshine” for its catchy hook and the Atari sound effect.
“supernatural” for being the best song of the album, and the vocoder background vocals that happened around 1:53.
Key Tracks
I do believe that a B- is a harsh score, but in the words of one of my favorite quotes “do nothing without intention.” When it comes to reviewing for Harpsichord, I make sure to give a thorough synopsis before the personal opinion, so I stay in line with the site’s overall goal of informing about the music. But this will be the first review where the score receives its own essay from a personal standpoint…
Usually when I hear an Ariana Grande album, there are immediately eight songs that I want to play on repeat just off a first listen. This album? Not so much. On the first listen, I only liked four off the bat (and that happened to be the middle portion I so avidly described in the synopsis).
Despite this LP having grown a bit more on me in the timeframe of its release week, after revisiting her other works and finalizing their reviews, it just doesn’t compare. Simply put, I think eternal sunshine is a boring girl. And I will go a step further and say that ILYA and Max Martin should not have an entire Ariana Grande project to themselves. Take sweetener and thank u, next for instance. On the former, Pharrell was able to bring the edge and quirkiness that balanced the softness of the tracklist. On the latter, we had a younger, fresh multi-feminine perspective from the likes of Muni Long, Tayla Parx, and Victoria Monét that added to the dimension of Ariana Grande’s pen.
Ariana Grande albums work well when she functions with unpredictability. This album felt too straightforward and cliché, while also a bit broken into two EPs. The device of linear pure pop storytelling kind of sucked out the gritty soul we’re used to from her. Plus, was this really an album that favored what truly goes down on ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ or more of an abstract interpretation? I’ll go with the latter…
I understand the theme of love being on a loop. I thought that she captured that perfectly. I will even go further to say that while I’m working in a physical sense, I’m able to play the first eight tracks of the album without skipping much.
However, by the time “yes, and?” comes on, I fast forward to “ordinary things.” There are melodies from my least favorite songs that do play in my head, but those are brief bits and pieces. Even with the songs I initially favored, such as “true story,” I find them to not give much in comparison to what else has come from the electro-hop&B era of Y2K.
Eternal sunshine is a pleasant listen, and I can understand why people gravitated towards it in the initial release week. It’s not a bad album. She doesn’t sound horrible. The production isn’t a mess. It’s just, I want more spark and I’m not getting that— so it came across a bit disappointing. Something feels like it’s lacking.
But maybe if Ariana or her team ever have the unlikely chance of reading this review, they’ll simply respond like JAY-Z did on “On To The Next One”: “want my old sh!t? Buy my old album.” To which I will simply respond “gladly” while cuing up this site’s higher scored albums, Positions , sweetener , or thank u, next .