Ariana Grande ‘Eternal Sunshine’ reviews: She addresses controversies on ‘honest’ and ‘mature’ album

Daniel Montgomery
·3 min read
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A new Ariana Grande era has begun with the release of her seventh studio album, “Eternal Sunshine,” on March 8. And it may be one of her best if the reviews are any indication. As of this writing it has earned a MetaCritic score of 83 based on 12 reviews counted thus far: 11 positive and one somewhat mixed, but none outright negative.

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Brittany Spanos (Rolling Stone) is especially effusive, calling the album “some of the most honest and inventive music of her career … It’s a divorce album that goes through all the stages of grief, and the singer navigates a new beginning with some of the most honest and inventive songs of her career so far.” Neil Z. Yeung (AllMusic) adds, “Grande strikes a balance between the warm, lush R&B tones of ‘Positions’ and ‘Thank U, Next’ with the lighter, feel-good fare found on ‘Sweetener’ … The years spent re-centering and growing up were clearly fruitful, resulting in one of her strongest, most cohesive efforts to date. ‘Eternal Sunshine’ is Grande in peak form.”

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Reflecting on how Grande addresses her tabloid-fodder relationships (including a divorce and a controversial new coupling), Laura Snapes (The Guardian) notes that the artist “toys with perceptions of victimhood and villainy that she knows she can’t control,” but “putting Grande on a pedestal helps no one, and the beatific, mature ‘Eternal Sunshine’ brings her safely back down to earth.” Sal Cinquemani (Slant) is compelled by her takes on the media surrounding her relationships: “Unlike most clapbacks by artists who’ve become fodder for the tabloids, Grande doesn’t come across as bellicose or indignant.”

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Harry Tafoya (Pitchfork) critiques the album as “slightly scattered,” but also praises it as an “emotionally generous collection of music that cycles compassionately through the collapse of one relationship and into the hopeful beginning of another.” The mixed review from Helen Brown (The Independent) that her personal confessions on the album “waft — prettily and rather flimsily — around her in mid-tempo, warm thermals of subtle, supple synths, strings, and muted guitar.” This collection is “a space to soak in the questions rather than expecting answers, Grande’s rose petal vocals swirling around in a bath bomb of slow-fizz pop.”

Will her personal confessions help her or hurt her at the Grammys? They’ve never hurt Taylor Swift, who has often litigated her romances in song. And the overall strength of the reviews could boost her towards her second Album of the Year nomination, following “Thank U, Next.” As of this writing she ranks fourth in our Grammy odds, though of course there’s still a long way to go in the eligibility period, which ends on August 30. Perhaps surprisingly, Grande has only won two Grammys: Best Pop Vocal Album for “Sweetener” and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Rain on Me” with Lady Gaga. Her last album, “Positions,” only netted her two noms. So this could be a comeback in more ways than one.

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