Ariana Grande 'Thank U, Next' Album Review

Ariana Grande is one to know the feeling of pain and defeat. With all that 2017 and 2018 has thrown at her, the outcome has been utmost amazing. Winning Billboard's “2018 Woman of The Year” award, a Grammy, and many more acclimations. With all of this, Ariana released her second album in six months, giving fans a total of five albums. Let’s take a deeper look into Ariana Grande’s fifth album, Thank U, Next.

"Imagine"

We begin with a vocally powerful song on the album. Ariana quoted that her album has a flow of pain, forgiveness, and moving on. "Imagine" is a song that is one of dreaming of a world that doesn’t exist. I would assume this album is mainly about the loss of ex-boyfriend Mac Miller and her struggle through ending the engagement with Pete Davidson. "Imagine" is about a world that is normal, full of love, and cherishing the moments together. Ariana brings back the whistle notes at the end of the song that set the album on a literal high note.

"Needy"

This song in particular is about self-recognition and self-awareness. Ariana reaches new vulnerable levels with this song and recognizes her "flaws" or what could make her seem too needy or involved in relationships and why they may end. I love this song because this is such a good message about taking a step back and learning about yourself and all the things that make up you, emotionally.

"NASA"

The actual NASA and Buzz Aldrin both recognized this song and that was honestly legendary and probably the greatest accomplishment for Ariana’s career. This song is a play-on a relationship needing "space" and Ariana compares it to NASA. A catchy tunes that will be stuck in your head all day.

"Bloodline"

If you have ever gone through the stage of wanting to have a friend with benefits, but the guy (or girl) wants more, this song is for you. This song embodies just having a good time and not taking things too seriously. Ariana sings, "Don’t want you in my bloodline, just tryin to have a good time" and later "you gon’ have to let this sh*t go."

"Fake Smile"

Expressing more about a day to day feeling, Ariana wrote a song about a walk in her shoes. The front that she puts on throughout the day to mask what is actually going through her head and her life. It is an oath to not fake it anymore and to just live her life how it is and not worry about what other people are thinking.

"Bad Idea"

Ariana uses this song to express the "bad ideas" that she has with a certain lover to forget her pain, her exes, and herself. Kind of like going through a stage of "f*ck it, and f*ck everything," let's just hangout and do everything I want you to do.

"Make Up"

Now, this song is about sweet sweet make up sex. Ariana intertwines play-on words with making up and beauty products. She praises toying with emotions so that they keep coming back for more and hyping herself up for someone and how she wants them to "ruin her makeup," so that she can just redo it again.

"Ghostin"

Get ready for the tears to fall during this song. From what I gathered with this song, it is about Mac Miller passing and Ariana having to battle the horrible loss, along with the overwhelming emotions of deciding to end the relationship with Pete. Having to choose what was best for her, which ultimately would be her. Death is a tricky thing to comprehend, and to lose someone that you love and cherish, I hope to never experience it. It is understandable with what she went through. Her and Mac had a special relationship, but in the end, his demons and the disease of addiction were not making the relationship as healthy as it should be. "Ghostin," in a whole, is about the pain and the sorrow of losing not one, but two relationships due to the loss of the one she truly loved forever.

"In My Head"

Women have a tendency to try to "fix" men or to have this image in their head about "what they could be" instead of who they are. This song is about a perfect image of someone and how they never fit the perfect picture, but somewhere deep down, she knew they could be more than what they allowed themselves to be. I assume this is another song about Mac and his addiction or Pete and his depression and other mental health issues. She fell in love with an image of someone, and then when it came to reality, they weren’t who she thought they were.

"7 Rings"

A power house song. An anthem for the ladies in the back. Ariana is so rich she bought six of her friends matching engagement rings and wrote a song about it. The song itself is just a huge flex on her money and how rich she is. Good for you, Ari. Say it louder for the people in the back. Flaunt it if you got it. Along with the glory of this song, it has created a lot of backlash with the accusations of taking Soulja Boi’s beat and someone else claiming she stole the song. But, if you have taken a listen to the "Four Chord Song," you would know that almost every song in the history of music has similar sounding tunes if not the same samples.

"Thank U, Next"

Along with an iconic music video, Ariana came out with an iconic breakup and move on song. Being thankful for those in our past, and the lessons they taught us along the way, is not something to be ashamed of. All of our exes have something to teach us before we find the one we spend the rest of our lives with. This song was an anthem as soon as it was released and really made a statement for those who struggle with the past. The iconic music video glorified four female-dominated movies with Ariana as the lead: Mean Girls, Bring It On, 13 Going on 30, and Legally Blonde—and all of the scenes in the music video have Ariana with NO MAN.

"Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored"

To understand this song as a whole, you really need to see the music video with it. I have seen a lot on Twitter that she is putting out a bad message and going against female empowerment. BUTTTTT if you watch the music video, you’ll know this song is more about Ariana reflecting on herself. With another Ariana lookalike in the video, it is almost as if she if reflecting on her relationship, and in the end, you see the lookalike going in with the moves on her. I think this song is a bop and if you stanned "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne then you’re a hypocrite for hating on this one. Ariana Grande also bought the samples for the song "It Makes Me Ill" by NSYNC for this song.

When we step back and just look at this album as a whole, you notice that the album is a progression of self-love, self-awareness, grieving, moving forward, and moving on. After the loss of Mac Miller and her public breakup, Ariana had a lot of emotions to process and she has stated before that this album, and writing it, saved her life. I know for me, it has given me a chance to process old and new feelings, relating to emotions I didn’t really know were there. Ariana has taken this album and broken so many records with it and exceeded new heights. Sis popped off and changed the game for female artists. This album is professionally put together and is by far her best album, which is so amazing to see because I know how much this album has helped her and SO many other people. I like to make sure we all know that it is okay to not be okay, and AG voices this in so many ways throughout this album. She deserves so much love and praise for putting it all out their as a female recording artist.