Preempting the release of her new short film, brighter days ahead, Ariana Grande graced the world on Mar. 8 with a five-song extension of her seventh studio album, eternal sunshine (2024). The original project was inspired by R&B, house, and synth-pop, illustrating Grande’s deepest personal thoughts towards the general public, her love life, and her relentlessly self-critical inner dialogue. A lot has happened since then, including an entire press tour and film awards season following the release of Wicked (2024), and Grande has much to address. Being the sole writer on each of the new songs, Grande blocks out the noise of superstardom on eternal sunshine deluxe: brighter days ahead to deliver her most intimate life lessons.
Although she demoted her two-year marriage with Dalton Gomez to a mere “situationship” in “don’t wanna break up again” (2024), this period of her life inspired a great deal of the deluxe’s new revelations. The extended album’s complex lyricism reflects the space that Grande held to mature in her feelings. Kicking off the new additions is a fresh take on the album’s opening interlude, “intro (end of the world) [extended].” While the initial interlude depicts Grande’s questioning of her relationship, the deluxe version alludes to the fallout preceding the relationship’s end. Grande urges her subject to “Please, pay me no mind / While I jump into your skin and change your eyes,” reinforcing the ongoing motif of warped perspectives that was crucial to earlier tracks like “true story” (2024) and “the boy is mine” (2024).
While the extended intro provides significant insights into her previous relationship, it notably does so through strikingly-simplistic language. At first, one winces at the lyrics: “I do need ya, I did (Mm) / I wish I could un-need ya, so I did.” However, the undecorated nature of these lines convey an intimacy reminiscent of a diary—it is almost comforting being exposed to Grande’s raw thoughts.
Grande continues to shed light on her previous love endeavors in the lead single from the new album, “twilight zone.” Taking notes from the success of her synth-pop hit, “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” (2024), Grande continues her exploration of this sound on the new track. She gracefully vocalizes the soul-numbing experience of questioning the validity of a former lover’s intentions, bluntly admitting “Not that I miss you, I don’t / Sometimes, I just can’t believe / You happened.”
Interestingly, the subject is referred to as an event rather than an existing relationship, sublimely conveying the experience that is reckoning with the blinding influence lovers have on each other. Grande proceeds to question her own sense of identity throughout the relationship, asking “Or was I just not me at all?” The distinction between the pains of adjusting to the single life and the sincere yearning for the past that Grande draws articulates the internal conflict universally faced post-breakup. In “twilight zone,” Grande admits to feeling pain, while recognizing she wouldn’t change a thing. The nuance Grande adds to the experience of grieving a relationship reflects a matured, respectable breakup while accurately depicting the pain that is bound to arise from any serious separation.
Harkening back to trap elements found within her previous work, Grande continues her reminiscence of her love history, depicting the evolution of her self-conception since leaving the subject of “past life.” Amongst the tracks that address the pain she’s coped with, “past life” most boldly strikes back against her ex, although she mostly blames her own irresponsibility for her heartache. Her iconic layered vocals coupled with trap beats surge with confidence as she sings the thesis of the song: “I’m fine to leave you in the past life.”
Rounding off the extent of her discussion of her short-lived marriage with Dalton Gomez, Grande masterfully bares all on “Hampstead,” a track she proudly crowned one of her favorite songs she has ever written. The title not-so-subtly references the London neighborhood she resided in with her ex-husband in the year leading up to their divorce. Belting the lyrics, “I’d rather be seen and alive than dying by your point of view,” Grande crushingly references her hit love-ballad “pov” (2020) that was released shortly after she tied the knot with Gomez.
“Hampstead” is also a ballad, although, in contrast to “pov,” the passionate harmonies have been replaced by anguish-filled vocalizations. While excruciating, these painful emotions are embraced by Grande, as she accepts she would “rather feel everything than nothing every time,” alluding to her former partner’s numbness. To drive home her point, Grande closes the song—and the entire album—with the lyrics, “I do,” referencing both her marriage and her final relinquishment of it one last time. “Hampstead” is the centerpiece of this entire album; it beautifully depicts the radical, yet inevitable acceptance of the pain that comes when life rearranges.
The project does not only dwell on loss, however, with “dandelion” and “warm” reflecting the love she has found amidst both her internal struggles and public crucifixion.
Brighter days are truly ahead on “warm,” a soft dance pop soon-to-be hit that feels like an 80 degree sunny day in song-form. The track loftily conveys the onset of an encapsulating romance that validates the importance of past pain. Alluding to her previous struggles in fully resonating with her partner, Grande declares, “Never thought I’d find another could fly here at my pace.” “warm” divinely displays the beauty one can find in vulnerability, and reminds us that there is always a silver lining.
The love found on warm was not effortless, however, as Grande’s hesitant longing is further explored on “dandelion.” On this track, Grande explores sexual themes that are both reminiscent of her past work and delivered in a way that contributes to the post-heartbreak love narrative developed throughout the project. Departing from her noble on-screen persona, Grande encourages the subject to “plant this seed,” referencing the floral metaphor the song is built around—she uniquely uses dandelions as a symbol of contaminated romance.
This is a direct reference to the controversy surrounding her relationship with current partner, Ethan Slater. Speculative rumors accusing both of infidelity with their previous partners arose to seething heights in July of 2023. Although many feel that Grande has wholly adapted the persona of her on-screen character, Galinda, following her Oscar-nominated performance as the Good Witch of the North in Wicked, she hasn’t shied away from setting the record straight, both through her music and media appearances. Here, Grande embraces the public perception of her relationship, vocally yearning over a trap beat for her partner to “get dirty, dirty.” If Grande didn’t wield the production and sonic mastery she does, I would have to criticize her rhyming of the word “unserious” with “serious,” but the track transcends word choice.
eternal sunshine deluxe: brighter days ahead displays a level of thematic nuance and vocal expertise unrivaled by her peers. Rarely can an artist execute both a cultivated vision and unprecedented vocal ability, but Grande does so effortlessly. Given that Grande is the sole writer on each new track, it’s no surprise the project provides exquisite emotional intimacy while maintaining an attentive approach to each element. Grande has clearly outgrown her limiting status as a pop star, and this record is a masterclass of transcending genre to reach new heights of artistic growth.
