Vulnerable, touching, powerful and soul searching. These are just some of the vibes one gets when listening to Ariana Grande’s most recent release.
Grande’s “eternal sunshine deluxe: brighter days ahead,” dropped March 28, just about a year after the release of the original album.
The release featured four updated songs from the album “eternal sunshine” and five new songs:
“twilight zone,” “warm,” “dandelion,” “past life” and “hampstead.”
In addition to these new songs, Grande also dropped a short film, “Brighter Days Ahead,” to coincide with the album.
The film is a continuation of the music video “we can’t be friends (wait for your love),” and is set 70 years after the song’s events.
In the film, Grande reprises the role of Peaches from the music video and returns to the Brighter Days clinic for the latest memory treatment, reliving the memories she had given up.
The audience then joins Grande as she relives her memories, important events from her life, with various songs from the album representing those moments.
Both the album and short film were very moving and showed off her emotional depth and vocal talent.
Some of my favorites that really highlight this are “warm” and “dandelion.”
“Can you hold the space I require or will you turn the page, the pagе? / Will you love me like it’s truе? / Am I just on your to-do-list? / I promise either way.”
These lines from “warm” really resonated with me. It feels like that in a relationship, either romantic or just friendship, there needs to be some level of true emotional connection or otherwise you just feel empty.
I really enjoyed the soft, smooth beats of the song and the vulnerability Grande sings about.
In “dandelion,” I really enjoyed the saxophone that played interspersed throughout, the music added a different sound not typical of pop songs.
The title was also enjoyable because dandelions are typically seen as weeds, but to me there is something special about its inclusion, evoking a sense of warm summer nights and making wishes of happier times.
I liked how both “warm” and “dandelion” were catchy but not loud, they were more nuanced and held softer tones compared to other more bubbly pop songs.
Another enjoyable track was “twilight zone,” named after the 1959 science-fiction mystery show that dealt with strange happenings in alternative realities.
I really liked the song’s smooth beats and smooth tones and the lyrics were very impactful to me as I see myself a bit in the music.
“Did I dream the whole thing? / Was I just a nightmare? / Different dimensions.”
I often find myself wondering the same things in my life, as if somehow, I myself had walked into my own version of the twilight zone.
This personal connection to the song along with my love for the show, a series I used to watch with my grandpa, really made “twilight zone” one of my favorites from the album.
Overall, the album is worth a listen and is available on major music sharing platforms such as Spotify, Apple music and on Grande’s website, where the short film “Brighter Days Ahead” is also available for viewing.
