Sweetener Review

May 2, 2018, Singer, Songwriter Ariana Grande announced her latest album ‘Sweetener’ was to be released August 17, 2018. The singer’s return to music after the terrorist attack at her Manchester Concert in 2017. Grande’s fourth studio album featuring work from the “Happy” singer Pharrell Williams, Williams producing, composing, and writing contributed to six songs on the album, including track 2 “Blazed” which unfortunately isn’t my cup of tea and one I tend to skip. However, the most memorable songs being on Sweetener being track 3 “The light is coming” featuring one of Ariana Grande’s closest friends Nicki Minaj which has a little bit of a techno to it, almost having an arcade feel to it the chorus “the light is coming to give back everything the darkness stole” is incredibly catchy and while have you singing it to yourself all day unconsciously, overall just a feel good vibe. Track 14 “Pete Davidson” a melodic devotion to her fiancé, where Grande expresses how genuinely happy she is with her partner in one of the most stripped-down tracks of the album. Track 15, “Get well soon” has a relaxed feel to it, it begins to feel dreamy as Ariana adds her layered vocals to create angelic harmonies. Grande explains the song was written about to her depression and anxiety, she describes how her mental health sometimes made her feel as if she were “floating”. The song is also a dedication to the victims of the horrendous 2017 terrorist act. Leaving 40 seconds of silence at the end of the song, making it so the song finishes at 5:30, the same time the bombings started. Track number five “God is a woman” almost instantly became her most controversially song by the track’s title alone. Outraged pouring in about how the “Father who art in heaven” should remain to be genderless, although those who were upset at the fact God was referred to as a Woman would continue to refer to God as “he”. However, after a quick inspection of the first break of her chorus, “You, you love it how I move you, you love it how I touch you, my one. When all is said and done, you’ll believe God is a woman” is not so much about religion but about the intimate relationship between her and her partner. Illustrating women in, for those who believe, the mightiest position of power. The music video opening with Ariana hula hooping the universe, being presented as the center of it and throughout the music video referencing significant biblical and Greek mythology figures, such as Cerberus, the Greek guardian of the underworld, Romulus and Remus, raised by a she wolf, who Grande depicts herself as in a scene in the music video. Another reference included is a quote from Ezekiel 25:17, which has throughout history been debated on whether or not it is a misquote, it in the music video voiced by Madonna reads, “And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious. Anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my [sisters]. And you will know My name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.” Controversy or not the song remains Ariana Grande’s best solo project, the lyrics and visuals being so well thought out and without a doubt the most unforgettable track of the album.