Ariana Grande - positions (Review)
Ariana Grande - positions (Review)
11/9/20
When word was widespread through the music industry that Ariana Grande would be making a sudden return with a new album "positions", and naturally, it seemed like it would be similar to all of her recent outings. Even though she had given her fans no other information, it was already pretty predictable. Ariana has been on this somewhat altered version of early 2010s pop for a while, and many other artists have followed this craze with her; namely Halsey. When I listened through Halsey's January album "Manic" earlier this year, I was somewhat blown away with what she was able to do with this genre. That album held so many special and cool moments, so many dynamic shifts and mood changes, while all staying within the realm of this new style of pop music. Going into "positions", it was difficult to expect much at all from Grande due to the quality of her last two albums "sweetener" and "thank u, next". Not to say either of these albums were objectively bad, but there were a lot of varying and frustratingly inconsistent moments throughout both of them. It's a little tough to say how much hype surrounded this album leading up to its release shown by anyone outside of the crazed Ariana Grande fanbase. Regardless, there is a fair amount of negatives and positives unpack and discuss here.
After listening to this album, it becomes blatantly obvious how mediocre of an experience this makes. The track list totals over forty minutes, and a lot of this is something of a drag to push through. At least one element from pretty much all of these songs is too generic, which makes this whole thing hard to take seriously. Thankfully, we get tracks like "34+35" which relieve you of this same generic love topic that gets so boring after so long. Though, this track is only the second of the list, which makes the rest far more of a boring experience. Said boring experience derives from many things, but usually spirals from the lyrics. So many of these songs had nothing new or interesting to display, and no unique moods whatsoever. The silly and fun lyrics are truly where this album thrives, but most of this album is just love talk that's too serious to not get overused while listening through. The beats in this album aren't necessarily bad, but there are a lot of beats that feel pretty much the same as the last. While this album is a little overproduced in a lot of areas, everything still works out okay in each track. After you realize this, however, you are bombarded with 14 tracks spanning over 40 minutes that all sound nearly the same instrumentally. The beats have a small range from either boring or tacky. While there aren't very many simply bad beats, there still aren't very many simply great ones here either. The lyrics and beats in this album certainly make the whole thing feel like a compilation of simple wannabe deep songs that are also radio hits and absolutely nothing more. Basically, these elements reflect how much this album is trying too hard to be something it shouldn't.
Despite gripes from this album, there are still a lot of redeemable qualities it possesses overall. While the lyrics get repetitive, there are quite a few that feel very genuine and somber; ones that feel like they came from a truly broken heart rather than a truly broken music industry. Another place where it thrives is in its previously discussed "fun" tracks; ones that don't take themselves too seriously. These tracks can bring out some of the best lyrical content of the album. The track "34+35", one of my favorite songs here, just goes relatively in-depth about having sex all night, and it stays fun while maintaining that certain truth to it. An even better example of this is the track "six thirty". This serves as a true ode to all of the great qualities this album and style respectively hold. This beat is more groovy than fun with the lyrics more somber and honest, yet the general repetition in the lyrics adds a certain vibe of catchy-ness that works great. It also uses these fake midi string sounds in a way that, unlike tracks such as "shut up", actually works. Strings have been used as a somewhat tacky way to jerk emotion out of a listener and used to be pretty easy to get right. Nowadays, however, they have grown so overused and become such a cheap way to make the listener feel that you're honest with them and your emotion is real. This album has good and bad examples of this, but the good examples shine brighter than the sun. While the tracks can get very repetitive, you have little moments and unique elements in the instrumentation that draws away from that feeling that it all sounds the same. This is one thing that feels very easy to give this album props on, seeing as a lot of other pop albums recently don't utilize this smart technique nearly as much as they should.
While this album isn't technically bad, "positions" is still no evolution or break off from Ariana Grande's generic recent style. The generic lyrics and instrumentals contrast the good ones, all with a somewhat overused performance style, contrast each other to make a pretty mediocre album. It's hard to have high hopes for Ariana Grande nowadays because of the style she seems so locked into. There's clearly some talent here, but so much of it is buried beneath a clear wanting to fulfill expectations of commercialism. Also to fulfill fans expectations of what a modern Ariana Grande album entails rather than branching off and trying anything cool or new. My favorite track is "six thirty"; I won't go over it too much because I already have, but it's just what brings out the good in this style and how Ariana takes it throughout this album. My least favorite track is probably "shut up". This track is very boring throughout and I'm personally not very fond of the disingenuous lyrics echoed in a somewhat shitty performance. Worst of all, the fake strings make a return, and they sound especially bad here, seeing as they are just trying to lazily bring out some emotion in a generally dull song. Giving this album a 1-10 using half numbers, I give this album a 4/10 with a five-word description of: "overused style gets mostly underutilized".
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