Album Review: Thank U, Next by Ariana Grande
- lifeisbella
- Jan 26, 2020
- 3 min read
As part of my research into the 2019 Grammy's Album of the Year category, I listened to each nominated album 5 times in order to evaluate my own ranking.
Here are some quick stats about Thank U, Next by Ariana Grande:
Before I jump into the review, I feel like it's important to know my experience with her. I have been following Ariana Grande since 2009 and I have her first three albums.
I think she is probably the best singer of our generation. I have just been disappointed with the kind of music she's been putting out. I feel like it doesn't show off her strengths as well as it could. Her music is pretty basic and generic in my opinion. It took me quite a few listens to start to get into this album, because it all sounded the same to me. It sounds the same as her albums since Dangerous Woman, and the same as everything else on the radio today.
My favorite songs are of course "7 Rings" and "Thank U, Next." These are pretty much the only songs that stand out. "Imagine" she also gets to show off those whistle notes, which is just so impressive. Most of the other songs kind of blended into each other. There weren't any songs that I really disliked, but ones that sounded even more basic than others include "NASA," "Bad Idea" and "Make Up." One thing that I can say about this album though, is I knew I could always come back to it and have a good time. Though some of the songs are basic, I knew that I could listen and get some energy and cheer me up a little bit.
The fact that she took six months between Sweetener and Thank U, Next makes me seriously doubt the amount of effort that was put into this album. It took six months to make and to me it shows. It shows that most of the songs on this album are filler. Wait a couple of years until you have an album full of bangers. Please.
Wikipedia says that Ariana is credited as a writer on all of these songs. I'm sorry girl, I love you, but I just don't believe it. Most of these songs have 4-6 writers. When there are that many writers in the room, I just don't believe that she had that much input on the song. Also when the album is released only six months after the last one, I don't believe that she would have enough content or emotional passion to express after such a little amount of time passes. She's also not listed as a producer on any of these songs. She also didn't play any instruments for this recording.
In my opinion, I do like the album. I love Ariana. I'm a fan, I know I'm going to have a good time while listening to this album. But objectively, I don't think this album required much effort and artistry. It just follows the basic formula that every other mainstream thing does these days. But because I love Ariana, I will probably continue to listen to this album. At least the few hits that are on it.
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