Over a year ago, Ariana Grande shook up the pop music scene with the release of her seventh album “eternal sunshine.” The record debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart and marked her sixth number-one album — a triumphant return to the top spot after more than three years without releasing music. Now, a year later, Grande is back with a deluxe edition, “eternal sunshine deluxe: brighter days ahead.”
The new edition includes five new songs and an extended version of the album’s first track, “intro (end of the world).” Released Friday, March 28, the album has fueled plenty of speculation that its themes are tied to Grande’s recent divorce from real estate agent Dalton Gomez.
This speculation is perhaps best understood through the song “twilight zone.” With earnest lyricism and Grande’s dreamy, light-lyric soprano, the track is a standout of the new edition. She laments, “Hope you win for best actor/ because I had you completely wrong,” and “Does she know you’re not who you say you are? Cause I might give her a call/or was I just not me at all?”
“hampstead” is another song of the album stirring up conjecture about Grande’s personal life — a soft piano ballad with glowing instrumentation and soaring vocals in which Grande discusses her growth and limitations as both an artist and person.
The lyrics, “I don’t remember too much of last year/But I know who I was when I got hear,” and “Cause I’m the same but entirely different/And my lovers just some lines in a song,” have fans theorizing the this song is in response to the media backlash Grande’s faced during the press tour of her movie “Wicked.” During the press tour, media outlets revealed her relationship with co-star Ethan Slater — who many believe separated from his wife in order to be with the pop star. As she sings, “Threw away my reputation/But saved us the headache” her assiduous, relevant lyrics and beautiful airy vocals make “hampstead” stand out as the heart of the new edition of “eternal sunshine.”
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the other three new tracks. Both “warm” and “dandelion” fall flat and lack the dynamic quality that Grande’s music so often needs. The same goes for the forgettable inclusion of the extended cut of “intro (end of the world).” Though Grande’s signature voice helps make the songs tolerable, it’s still hard to believe anyone other than long-term fans are coming back to these songs.
“past life” is also a forgettable inclusion on the deluxe edition. With cheap and overdone dreamlike production, the songs instrumentation blends into the rest of Grande’s discography, making it a forgettable track a near instant after listening.
“eternal sunshine deluxe: brighter days ahead” is a mixed bag, while the lyrical cohesive and original tracks, “hampstead” and “twilight zone” add meaning to the narrative of the original album; the inclusion of the other four songs results in a deluxe edition that ultimately feels overly bland and repetitious. Hopefully, there are brighter days ahead — for Grande’s music, that is.
This story was written by Allison Scherquist. She can be reached at allison.scherquist@marquette.edu.
