Eternal Sunshine: Grande's Best Work To Date

 Listening to Eternal Sunshine, the first song “Intro (end of the world)” poses this question: “How can I tell if I’m in the right relationship? Questioning herself, Ariana embarks on this album finding the answer, full of favorites and bops! I am an Arianator and was happy to listen to the album since Grande’s last album, Positions, was released four years ago. Even though some of Grande’s previous albums such as Dangerous Woman and Thank You, Next are my favorites, this one comes on top.

 Even though some of Grande’s previous songs are bop’s, the lyrics sometimes could be weak. Listening to this album, I thought the lyrics were stronger, enthralling, and original. When it comes to Grande’s older songs, there were many other writers behind the songs, including Grande herself. On the Eternal Sunshine album though, Grande created more of the lyrics with the help of Max Martin and llya. Since this is the case, Grande created a vivid story about the end of her marriage through meticulous lyrics. Here is an example of lyrics from Grande’s “Ordinary Things” which is the final track of the album:

“You hit just like the first sip of wine after a long day”

“You hit like my biggest fan when I hear what the critiques say”

“You hit just like a green light when I'm stuck runnin' real late”

“I don't need no diamonds, just your time”

These metaphorical lyrics are fun, unique, and vibrant. These lyrics describes what a special person can do or make someone feel in a positive way. Those lyrics could be attributed to Grande’s new beau or her just wanting to have this experience again. Also, the special message at the end from Grande’s grandmother Nonna (Marjorie Grande) was quality advice. Here is a snippet of what she said:

“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”

This song, especially the advice, is the answer to the question Grandes poses in the beginning. Taking Nonna’s (Marjorie Grande) advice and realizing she wasn’t happy anymore, Grande decides to end her marriage, looking towards the future. This is one of my favorite songs off the album, but not just for the lyrics though. I really enjoyed the sound of the song, especially at the beginning.

Even though I thought the majority of the album’s lyrics were stronger, enthralling, and original, I didn’t really care for “yes, and.” I did enjoy the sound of the song though, since you can dance to it, but the quality of the lyrics was weak. Even the song lyric everyone was talking about didn’t sit with me as well. I’m not going to share my opinion on the controversy surrounding Grande in this review, but I feel that the lyric shouldn’t exist. It added more fuel to the controversy and doesn’t reflect good on Grande.

But when it comes to the rest of the album, I really enjoyed listening to it. For example, one of my other favorites off the album is the titular song “eternal sunshine.” First listening to the song, my head was bopping as I like the beat and sound. Also, the lyrics really hit as well since Grande’s divorce haunts her, causing her to want to forget about the relationship. The song also explores Grande implying that her ex-husband, Dalton Gomez, cheated and that he loves to lie. Another song that is my favorite on this album is “don’t wanna break up again.” The slow R&B styled song focuses on Grande not wanting to end her marriage and willing to fix their relationship issues. The song, implying that she was the only one trying, causes her to give up and move on.

At the beginning of my review, I mentioned that it’s now one of my favorites by Grande. I’ve been listening to the album on repeat and I like the majority of the songs. Also, I like that you can dance and chill to this album full of Pop, R&B, Dance, etc. beats. Since Grande is officially back in the music scene, she did it again. Making bops and hits that will be charting (Note: Grande made history with this album). I don’t know if Grande will go on this tour for this era, but she has expressed that she would love to. And I since I haven’t seen her before, It would be great to see her perform these songs live. Excited to see what Grande has in store for music!

Grande, Ariana. "Ordinary Things." Eternal Sunshine. Republic Records, 2024. Transcript of lyrics.

If you made it to the bottom, thanks for reading my music review! Hope you subscribe and check out my other content. Look out for the next music review - Brianna