“Please, pay me no mind/ while I jump into your skin and change your eyes/ so you see things through mine” Ariana Grande sings in her new, extended version of “intro (end of the world).” In her deluxe, Grande urges listeners to look beyond her celebrity image, beyond her “old” reputation (cough, cough “positions” and “thank u next”), and to instead look at her: simply a woman who has faced major life changes and has grown because of them. This is a common theme of her seventh album, “eternal sunshine,” and its new revamp, the glorious, diverse, and unique “brighter days ahead.”
In “brighter days ahead,” Grande added six new songs that add dimension to and diversify the album, managing to stay true to its essence without sounding monotonous. Though she urges listeners to look into the love story behind the album, Grande also sends a cheeky wave to her younger self in “brighter days ahead” Songs like “dandelion,” which opens with a jazzy saxophone solo and descends into a trap beat, and “warm,” which is romantic and upbeat, make die-hard Arianators and casual listeners alike wonder, “Is this pre-Wicked Ari?”
At 31 years old, Grande has accomplished a lot in life, such as releasing seven certified platinum albums and acting in several notable roles—her most recent being Glinda in the film adaptation of the musical “Wicked.” While she worked on “Wicked,” Grande also finalized her divorce with ex-husband Dalton Gomez and began a new relationship with her “Wicked” co-star Ethan Slater. Grande faced scrutiny from the internet as a result, making a rough transition in her life harder.
At the same time, Grande had not released an album in four years while filming “Wicked.” Fans were asking themselves: was Grande’s pop era over?
So when Grande released “eternal sunshine,” the world paid attention. They listened to the melodies, analyzed the lyrics, and cried as they watched the music videos (you know the one). Listeners liked it, but they didn’t love it; “eternal sunshine” was emotional, but since each song was emotional, the overall album seemed monotonous. Some fans and critics even said that it was Grande’s worst album.
However, on March 28, Grande answered with “brighter days ahead,” its cooler, younger sister. This album diversifies “eternal sunshine” with its added songs which add new feeling and sound to the album. In “Hampstead,” Grande touches on both her rocky relationship with her father—something she’s barely discussed before—and her new relationship with Slater. With lyrics like “So far off, your seat’s nowhere near the table/ But I find something sweet in your peculiar/ behavior” and “’Cause I’m still the same but only entirely/ different,” Grande takes “brighter days ahead” to an even deeper personal level than what was in “eternal sunshine.”
In “dandelion,” the first ten-ish seconds of the song are jazz, a sharp contrast to the sad-girl-indie-pop sound of “eternal sunshine.” For listeners, the jazz acts as a refresher to “eternal sunshine” because it adds a compelling sound to an otherwise monotonous-sounding album, while still maintaining that melancholy feel.
Besides its sad feeling, there is also a space motif that connects many of the songs in the album, making “eternal sunshine” and “brighter days ahead” feel like a cohesive album. These include “warm” (“if you dare, meet me there/ I’ll be higher than the exosphere/ ‘cause I know now, I’m safe and sound/ and i won’t come down for you”) to “past life” (“phased me just like the moon/ i used to think you were the medicine, but you were just code blue) to “supernatural” from the original album (“it’s like supernatural/this love’s possessing me/but i don’t mind at all/ need your hands all up on my body/ like the moon needs the stars). Grande even seems to be kidnapped by a UFO on the album cover.
The space motif is but one small piece of the overarching theme of “brighter days ahead,” which takes inspiration from the movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”
Along with the five deluxe songs, Grande released a short film, which is overlaid with several of her new songs, as well as some of her old ones. A music video for “we can’t be friends (wait for your love),” was heavily influenced by the movie and features Grande as her alter ego: Peaches. Peaches elects to forget a past relationship in the music video, and later appears again in the short film. This time an older woman, she reflects on her life as a child, singer, human, and as a daughter. Grande’s album connects these memories together, and it is what makes “brighter days ahead” not a new album—but a continuation of “eternal sunshine.”
“Eternal sunshine” was good, don’t get us wrong. But “brighter days ahead” added more to the album, and made it a deep, introspective triumph. “Brighter days ahead” is an album for introverts, extroverts, ambiverts, and everyone in-between. It’s an album that allows the fiercely independent to fall in love. It’s an album where fans can finally connect with Grande, both old and new.