Ariana Grande - AG4 (2018 album)

It's coming! -- http://variety.com/2018/music/news/ariana-grande-to-drop-first-single-from-new-album-on-april-27-1202747183/

She's also been posting little teasers on Instagram since the New Year.

I got heavily into her music around a year ago -- I've listened to her three albums exhaustively & repeatedly, sometimes on constant rotation (I also saw the tour). To say I am excited about the new one would be an understatement!

I can't forgive her for licking those donuts.

LOL - I hear you, man...

is the stan twitter abbreviation for the album title necessary

Yes, it's the official Arianator designation (my hands are tied)!

(I am world's loneliest 40-something Arianator bro)

While I've loved a lot of her music, I've never gotten a sense of who she actually is from it. Both the hilarious donut-licking situation and the way she dealt with Manchester show someone with a lot more to offer the world than vocal acrobatics over generic (albeit excellent) pop production and I hope this is the time where she finally shows she's more than just a big voice and high ponytail.

Based on what folks involved are saying, sounds like you may get your wish! (see the quotes in this collection: https://twitter.com/i/moments/958089091442184194)

Btw – apparently the single and/or album are rumored to be titled “No Tears Left to Cry.”

One of her core strengths is her impeccable taste in material – IMO, there isn’t a “bad” song on her three main albums (including the bonus tracks on the Target Deluxe Editions). ...And, of course, many/most of the tracks are just fantastic.

So if she has been working a long time on winnowing down a bunch of new songs to the strongest possible 10-track album (as she says in one of those quotes), that speaks volumes about the expected quality!

FYI - this single is now rumored to drop this Friday (4/20).

- stan the man

4/20, BRAH

https://pitchfork.com/news/ariana-grande-teases-new-music-coming-friday/

she’s the best and I’m honestly really excited about hearing her new stuff

Love this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffxKSjUwKdU

It doesn't sound like "Toxic," but it reminds me of "Toxic" in that it's got a totally bizarre structure for a 21st century pop single.

It’s got a really distinctive sound. I can see this breaking up the flow of my average top40 radio session in the car very nicely (though it’s a little less packed with incident than I prefer for my big Pop Artist Rollout Singles) - certainly it’s a vastly better start to this album campaign than the title track of “Dangerous Woman” was.
Speaking of which, very clever of Camp Ariana to pivot from three straight albums of understated, black-and-white artwork with a polite, black-and-white cover that has a prismatic dash of rainbow across Ariana’s face. Says a lot without having to change a lot.

i like this but it feels weird, i keep expecting it to really kick in at some point ie go harder with the breakbeat but it never does

The chorus is elegant, massive! (Also, is that a drum’n’bass beat(!)? Almost?)

xpost yeah, it’s sort of a deconstructed anthem

xp yeah it almost is but there's a few kicks missing, it's a strange feeling

Like it gestures at being a club floor-filler but the vocal hook keeps tugging it back to earth

A lock for Top 40 that sounds good and different. More of these please.

Yeah this is really good. surprised that they didn't go more anthemic on the chorus, like a usual single would - it's mostly just her lead vocal instead of the usual barrage of fuller synths, harder drums, and backing vocals - but the change is really refreshing

I almost love this but her diction is noticeably poor in the verses. I wouldn't say this sounds wildly different to what was in the UK top ten a few years ago but it suits her.

The part in the video where she takes her face off is really creepy!

this is absolutely :)

i don't fucking care she is on fire

I think the DnB beat is reminiscent of early 00s pop, something that's almost completely gone now. JF, maybe this is part of why it reminds you of Toxic?

Not a huge fan of the video. Kind of lazy references to Blade Runner and Inception. I liked the bit with the umbrellas, though.

yeah the video's a bit off, especially the weirdly lax lip syncing.

FUCK OFF

when she's caught in that starry spider's web it's like some Skyrim thing i'm on it

this song is fantastic

I don’t hear anything particularly like « Toxic » but it does have a Britney something at times.
Also the does sound a bit understated. It could bang a bit more. And have some stronger eurodance synth pads.
That said it’s a pretty good track !

The beat does sound understated

my onnnnnly issue is her vocal production on the chorus, otherwise it's beautiful!

I think it reminds me more of Britney’s « Break the ice » actually ! Still such a brilliant track btw...

umm break the ice is the closest pop equivalent to Mozart i've heard in a long time btw

never forget.

“we’re on another mentality”

Just played it 3 times on the bounce on teh bus. Amazing

It’s a full-length song that almost feels too short (in a good way, leaves you wanting more). Feels like it could keep rolling several more minutes as it builds and then suddenly stops.

Kind of a false ending but that's another one of its multiple virtues

i dig it. reminds me a little of 1 thing by amerie but in a lower register

this one's going to be about the remixes imo

it's going to be a huge club anthem

^^^^

one of her best songs so far. agreed re: its remix potential

this is really cool. her last few lead singles have been very broad/obvious, and this one goes to some unexpected places

I specifically said above that it doesn't sound like "Toxic" at all, but that it calls "Toxic" to mind in that it's a really ambitious and left field approach to what will ostensibly be a hit to some degree. iow we are now officially in the Ariana empirical phase.

Stupid phone. *imperial

Actually I think it sounds like a (very good) demo !
There’s something unfinished about it.

A new single titled "Imagine" drops tonite, fam

It’s some next-level shit, y’all !

"imagine" is pretty nice, especially the ending section - it's better than most of sweetener

guessing a christmas album release? that feels like something she'd do

as in the album gets a surprise christmas release rather than she's recording a christmas album lol

I know I’m prone to hyperbole ITT; but I feel like this year we’ve seen an already extraordinary artist just “come into her own”... she’s totally in the pocket, every release feels like a minor revelation. I can think of only a few rough analogies — witnessing an artist this perfectly in the zone — in my lifetime of music fandom. I’m so happy to be here for it.

both "imagine" and "thank u next" are better than anything on Sweetener except the lead single

"imagine" def not as effortlessly good as "thank u next" but im just rly happy to hear her over some good production that is not pharrell or max martin

I've listened to "Imagine" a couple of times.
I don't find it particularly good so far (and not better than some Sweetener tracks).
But I'll certainly give it more time. Maybe it'll grow.

"imagine" isn't a smash but kind of revelatory for me as someone who's been listening awhile to hear her release a very good song that isn't straining itself to be a smash

i would contrast with "god is a woman" which to me sounds like it's contorting itself into some truly grotesque shapes in order to go bigger and wider with each second that passes, by the end it's mike teevee at the end of charlie & the chocolate factory, towering overhead but so thin and wobbly that a slight gust of wind might knock it to the ground

"imagine" is much looser, more natural, more listenable, more recognizably human

i knew her music would get a lot better once she left max behind, i just never imagined it would happen so quickly

y’all and your backhanded compliments, lol...

I need to find or establish some kind of community of like-minded individuals... maybe I’ll hand out my card to other adult dudes when I see her perform at Staples in May.

I ordered pad thai tonite in honor of this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjQerQlqYgI

Catch her performance on Fallon last night? It was tight

she turned down a damehood, respec!

<3

thank u, yes!

side a - thank u, next
side b - imagine
vinyl available now
🖤https://t.co/DrD7Oi96Ju pic.twitter.com/PITRnapGdb

— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) January 3, 2019

how often do major-label pop artists release singles as 45s, i wonder

**breaking** she’s headlining night 3 of Coachella (both weekends)

...now also Lollapalooza (rumored).

new single, “7 Rings,” out Friday:

indeeeed. but i guess thank u, next is more vulnerable and gentle lol. seven rings is jus like ..... a flex. friendship anthem. how the homies WANT u to feel. what the ‘thank u next’ energy evolves into while embracing a new chapter (even tho both moods /energies are v present).

— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) January 13, 2019

meanwhile, check out my sweet ebay score that arrived today (direct from overseez):

https://i.imgur.com/XL5iFUy.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2bb0Z7D.jpg

POPS BEST 1000, y’all #reeemixxxx

New song is “My Favorite Things” with some squeaky rapping 😂

yeah, it seems bad after a pair of listens.

It’s def. a cute “flex,” don’t really know what more to say about it...

this song sucks ass

It’s catchy, but I really thought that the awful Carters album from last year signalled a bit of an end in relevance for songs about tasteless, excessive and wasteful consumption / flexing.

Like, compared to how much I enjoyed the overall message of thank u, next and No Tears Left to Cry, I find the “message” here totally odious in 2019.

Destroy capitalism etc.

http://www.katyjon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Rik-Mayall-Rick-in-The-Young-Ones-428x372.png

well she's certainly doing what she's supposed to be doing

such a nothing-y track, its weird how all over the place her quality has been with these albums

it's going to be a huge hit

i will say one thing i appreciate about her right now is the pace of her releases. like if you're in a position to be releasing hit after hit after hit, as she obviously is, you might as well encourage radio to stop being so fucking slow

I think if she had released it soon after recording it (and the now-famous Tiffany visit), it would have had a fun, throwaway immediacy; a document of a moment in time. But to give it the long build-up treatment... idk, I laughed as soon as I heard her singing the melody. It sort of felt like being punked, or on the receiving end of a good-natured grift.

Ugh “7 rings” is such an annoying single.

And no this is not going to be a huge hit.

Or at least I hope it wont.

Time for new thread? AG5 tweets aplenty.

The first three songs have already been discussed here, and it's all sort of the same "era" (as they say) as Sweetener... but I'm cool w/a new thread if someone wants to start one!

just don't call the thread ag5

lemme stay .... in my bag ... cause i like .... when u mad .... issa mood .... issa vibe .... issa look .... issa match pic.twitter.com/5CVYoEDkcX

— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) January 24, 2019

it sure will be interesting to watch all of her critical goodwill evaporate in no time flat now that it's increasingly evident that she's fated to be the industry's female post malone!

My daughter watches reruns of her old TV show Sam and Cat and she is an awful, awful actress.

Really? My kids watch that (and Victorious) and I think she's great as Cat

What’s wrong with 7 rings? Not an anthem maybe, but kind of fun.

AG4 won a Grammy!

finally, ariana grande has been recognized by the recording industry.

It’s her first Grammy.

which is surprising! I guess the only people who i'm happy to see a grammy are people who it might help book tours/sell merch and Ariana needs a grammy like she needs a new boyfriend.

Which plucky upstart in the Best Pop Vocal Album category were you rooting for?

Weaves

naw, i meant in the other, untelevised categories. this is cecile mclorin salvant's second grammy!

Just realised that part of why I love Ghostin' so much is because some of the vocal melody reminds me a bit of Open Your Eyes by School Of Seven Bells.

listening to this for the first time, pretty good so far but the chorus of "Bloodline" is an instant yikes

Wrong thread, fam: Ariana Grande - "Thank U, Next" (the album)

This 1-hr. BBC concert/interview from 2018 was recently posted in its entirety* for the first time (at least here in U.S.); the performances are excellent:

*apparently, they held back "Better Off" at her request (you can find that separately)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDLRYnw_FWw