ariana grande, pop’s biggest star, and officially it’s biggest gentrifier (“thank u, next” album review)
thank u, next continues the sonic evolution Sweetener began. Unfortunately, the evolution has an obvious ancestor.
Ariana Grande and Drake have the same career trajectory. Teen actors with an established youth fanbase, who use this fanbase to boost their initial sales and radio plays. After a few years in the industry, they both create a universally appealing sound, drawing on a variety of pop music genres, with just enough personal celebrity drama to keep them and their music relevant.
Many holier-than-thou men (myself included) never cared much for Ari. Until Sweetener. A bubbly, sugar-laced project, with stellar production spearheaded by the legendary Pharrell. It was a respect-demanding project, a reflection of her career. I bought it on vinyl.
Despite Sweetener’s meteoric success, Ms. Grande emotionally spiraled over the last few months. Her former boyfriend, Mac Miller died of a drug overdose; a death for which she was misogynistically blamed for on social media. Soon after, she broke up with Pete Davidson, a key inspiration behind the lovely sounds of Sweetener.
Ari drops“thank u, next” as a single during this tumultuous time with instant critical success. I was instantly intrigued, as it appeared Grande would continue down this pop-altering path while injecting her personal struggles into the music.
Let me be clear. The majority of hate Ari receives online, especially from men, is unwarranted. However, she did receive warranted backlash, following her second single from the album, “7 rings”. Twitter accused her of cultural appropriation, some going as far as calling her musical blackface. While I think describing her as blackface is a bit extreme, it’s impossible to ignore the obvious elements lifted from black womanhood.
I mean…
The cringy Migos-esque lyrics grow stale QUICK. And the chorus where she brags about “buying her hair”: who normally “buys” their hair (and get trashed for buying it)? The incremental gentrification of rap and R&B extends far beyond Ariana Grande and her artistry; it’s a slow, insidious process that has occurred since the early 2000s. The entirety of pop music in the United States comes from a commercial reinterpretation of traditionally PoC music. As early as the 1950s, with blues, jazz, and rock, PoC musicians have had their sonic fingerprint forged by white artists. Forgeries that often outsell the original.
The market’s acceptance of said appropriation depends on subtlety. But “7 Rings” is blatant appropriation, with zero attempts to hide the source. And it’s musically horrible.
So that leaves me at thank u, next. It is a commendable continuation of her rollercoaster pop sound. As expected, the production is consistently viscous, noticeably heavier than Sweetener. This weighed-down reverby R&B thematically reflects her sorrow and uncertainty. Unfortunately, the end result is a zero-MSG mishmash of popular (i.e black) sounds, that have been done better, both retrospectively and contemporarily.
The opener “imagine” is a symphonic wonder, beautifully highlighting Grande’s ever-improving vocal ability. Unfortunately, this spectacular opener is soiled by “needy”, where Ari croons over a simple alt-R&B beat that drags on. “needy” and “make up” are two filler tracks that do nothing but provide faux skippable interludes.
The best track is easily “ghostin”. A haunting ballad with swelling, cloudy production. Her vocals are commanding and siren-like, with a feverish delivery which rakes at the soul. It’s an inspiring moment of pleasant melodrama, without any “hmm” moments.
The other tracks while enjoyable bops contain many “hmm” moments. “NASA” is a bass-laced, spacey bad bitch anthem. Ari intertwines cheeky space similes and metaphors through the track, in a shockingly tasteful manner. The song starts with a prominent “ This is one small step for woman/One giant leap for woman-kind” sample at the beginning, courtesy of drag queen Shangela. I find it ironic that this intended feminine empowerment anthem starts with a person who normally presents as a man. To clarify, I have absolutely nothing against drag queens or their profession. But it is performance; womanhood is not a performance.
The track bleeds into “bloodline” (wait is the song called this????). “bloodline” features another vocal sample, courtesy of her grandmother (ahhh ok), that states: “Because I’m trying to do the best I can/And they can’t find something to satisfy me, look”. Thematically, the song is about a one-night stand, while avoiding pregnancy, soundtracked by this Latin swing jazz trap fusion. A strange topic to include your grandmother in frankly.
The samples have meaning that either doesn’t translate well or are simply added to provide the illusion of deep meaning to supremely generic empowerment anthems.
“fake smile” contains yet another sample intro; Wendy Rene’s 1964 song “After Laughter (Comes Tears),”. According to Genius, this sample has been used before by other prominent artists, such as the Wu-Tang Clan and Metro Boomin…and used effectively. Ariana Grande takes this moment to “fuck a fake smile”, and lament over her mental state, through a passionate cry that resonates. It’s truly heart-wrenching to listen to her sorrow.
At this point, the gentrification is still palatable, solely because of Ariana’s energy and emotion. It’s understandably raw and angsty. It is also a pop album, I don’t expect super experimental or even original elements. “bad idea” is the peak of palatability though. A beat made of an entrancing midi piano with a generic rattling high hat. It is pure danceable fun. But holy shit. Does the biting become obvious at 3:07 when the beat SWITCHES to this moody, lazily screwed reverb outro…with DEEP tenor autotune. “in my head” continues the lazy voicemail sampling, with a loud snare, stretched synths and unnecessary autotune. Both of these songs sound like her producers listened to “Sicko Mode”, googled “Travis Scott x A$AP Rocky type beat”, and crudely stapled Ariana on it. It does not help her case that “7 rings”, that upbeat bastardization of trap, follow these lowkey bastardizations of trap.
The last tracks are ok. “thank u, next” is different than the single version. It has a radio, speed up version that would have been a fantastic closer, as “break up with your boyfriend, i’m bored” is a shriveled throwaway pop song.
thank u, next is a puzzling blend of genuine emotion mediated through high-budget bops, blandified to entice a predominantly white woman audience. The use of Lemonade-ish voicemail samples, the peppering of Latin rhythm, ASTROWORLD-esque faux psychedelia, and culturally appropriated trap suggests an awareness of the popularity of these PoC sounds. But it lacks understanding of their implementation, and the respect to attempt understanding in the first place. What turns this ignorance into gentrification, is the repackaging of these trends to be sold as a 100-percent from-the-heart creation, when it’s just another pop album meant to sell records to an insecure unspecified audience.
5.5/10
