Music Review: Eternal Sunshine by Ariana Grande

After a very public divorce, being cast in the movie adaptation of wicked, and a new whirlwind romance, Ariana Grande’s seventh studio album, ‘Eternal Sunshine’, not only discusses themes of peace, loss and longing but also draws inspiration from the 2004 film ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’.

In the sci-fi romance the two main characters erase their memories of each other in order to get over their breakup only to realise, almost too late, that they still care deeply for one another.

In the title track ‘eternal sunshine’ Grande gives us many great call backs to the Jim Carrey classic with the lyric “so I try to wipe my mind/just so I feel less insane/rather feel painless’’ she goes on to further explore this concept in track 10, “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” where she discusses how the relationship (or lack thereof) has become toxic and believes that although she would love to look past any transgressions she cannot maintain a relationship with this person, see the chorus lyrics “we can’t be friends/but I’d like to just pretend/you cling to your papers and pens/wait until you like me again”, many have theorised that this song in particular is a nod to the fans, specifically those that have brought into what they have read online about the singer. Grande is commenting on how changeable the public opinion can be and that we are only ever seeing a small glimpse of her life.

This album is showing the public a new Ariana.

This theme is common with Grande’s music, not only in this album with tracks like the pre-released single “yes, and?” (which interpolates Madonna’s Vogue) but also with some of her previous work like the track “I don’t care” from her third studio album “dangerous woman” where she states: “I used to let some people tell me how to live and what to be/but if I can’t be me, then what’s the point, no.”

This album is showing the public a new Ariana, when interviewing with the Zach Sang show, Grande commented on how this album felt like showcasing two sides of herself “pop Ari” and “human Ari”, she credited this to taking a break (Ariana’s previous release before eternal sunshine was 2020).

“My relationship to music changed and healed a lot through taking a break,’’ said the singer to Zach Sang during an interview. All this is evident in track 4, “Saturn returns Interlude”, where she delves into entering a new chapter of her life post-divorce, Grande uses the celestial event of Saturn Return to signify this.

Women’s Health describes this astrological phenomena as ‘’your Saturn return is when the planet Saturn returns to the exact degree of the same sign it was in when you were born.’’ It takes roughly 30 years for your Saturn to return (Grande is currently 30 years-old) and apparently brings challenging periods and time for self-reflection, which you could argue is one of the overarching themes of this album.

The first lyric of this album is a question (“how can I tell if I’m in the right relationship?”) which Grande explores throughout the track list and finally answers via her Nonna (grandmother) in the final song, where she says: “And as I told her never go to bed without Kissin’ goodnight/that’s the worst thing to do, don’t ever, ever do that/and if you can’t, and if you don’t feel comfortable doing it/you’re in the wrong place, get out’” which not only answers the question Grande began with but also leaves fans with a valuable piece of advice. 

Grande has given us some of the best pop this year with Eternal Sunshine and it could be considered a modern classic.

While the new pop/human hybrid and Saturn returned Ari has shown us that she is something to look forward to, Grande is still hitting us with her notorious bad girl anthems. One of the few bad girl anthems on this album is track eight “the boy is mine” which Grande has said is her take on the 90s hit of the same name by Brandy and Monica.

In the song Grande serves her “what I want, I get” attitude that has worked amazingly on previous songs like, ‘into you’, “break up with your girlfriend, I’m bored”, and “7 rings”. When interviewing with apple music’s Zane Lowe, Grande discusses how “the boy is mine” and “true story” work hand in hand, where “true story” sets up “the boy is mine” to be an elevated bad girl anthem.

While “the boy is mine” makes a great girls’ night hit many fans still wish for her viral leaked song commonly referred to as “fantasize” to be released on streaming platforms. When questioned by Zach Sang about the leaked songs that were flourishing all over TikTok, Grande said: “Those were all written for a TV show… that wasn’t my song [fantasize], that wasn’t for me, it was like a parody of like a 90s girl group vibe, but they [the fans] loved it… it’s so corny but it’s okay, I took the note and I kinda gave them Ariana’s version of that…’’

With all this in mind, it is highly unlikely that we will be getting the 90s R&B/pop song that is ‘fantasize’ however we should not rule out the possibility of getting more songs a-kin to the leaked hit, especially since Grande was keen to pay homage to it. 

Throughout Grande’s promotion for ‘Eternal Sunshine’, she has claimed that it is somewhat a concept album (the concept being the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), concept albums can be tricky to do correctly, there is a fine line between a good concept and a gimmick, something Grande has done beautifully is pick a good concept for songs on this album however you can’t really classify this as a concept album when only two of the song fit into the concept.

That’s not to say that this album hasn’t got its merits, any Ariana Grande song you listen to her vocals will always be the focal point and that’s no different on “Eternal Sunshine”, her use of harmony and vocal layering is on point as always, it feels as though Grande has stopped trying to out-sing herself on this album and is truly letting the music speak for itself which works wonderfully for the lyrical side of things, the instrumentals of the album are good, there is nothing wrong with them, but they still leave something to be desired.

The disco-esque bass, staccato piano, and glittery synth flourishes from “bye” are some of the best parts of the album but then you get to a track like “don’t wanna break up again” which feels overly safe instrumentally for such sensitive lyrics, a good producer knows moderation and a great producer knows the limit.

All that being said, Grande has given us some of the best pop this year with “Eternal Sunshine” and it could be considered a modern classic comparable to that of Taylor Swift’s 1989 or Beyoncé’s Lemonade. The overall rating for Ariana Grande’s ‘Eternal Sunshine’ is 8.5/10, this is the part where she breaks free and safe to say were into it, after the emotional ride that is Grande’s 2024 release there really is no tears left to cry, while more could’ve been explored instrumentally it felt as though the fans got to see a new, evolved Ari who leaves us thrilled and enthusiastic for where this Saturn return cycle will take us!