Ariana Grande’s album, released last March, “eternal sunshine” is based off the Jim Carrey film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” where a couple undergoes a medical procedure to erase each other from their mind. It was one of my favorite album releases of 2024, which is really saying something because last year was packed full of high profile album releases. Check out one of my earlier blog posts to see my top five records of last year.
Ahead of the deluxe release, Grande released a “slightly deluxe” version last year, featuring three remixes on existing tracks with artists like Troye Sivan and Mariah Carey. If you’re listening to this version, save yourself time and don’t listen to the “yes, and?” remix with Mariah Carey. It’s awful.
So while this “slightly deluxe” version was fine, it wasn’t very impressive and I found myself playing the original version instead. But Grande’s newly released “eternal sunshine: brighter days ahead” overcomes that disappointment by a landslide.
Similar to my recent review of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet (Deluxe),” I will be doing a rating of all the newly added tracks. Let’s get into it.
An extended version of the first track “intro (end of the world),” I was disappointed that I wasn’t obsessed with this track, especially as the original was a favorite of mine on the original album. It wasn’t bad, but felt unnecessary and didn’t do the original track justice.
I enjoy the sentiment of finishing the story of the original track, but it was not done skillfully. The lyrics felt childish and informal compared to the tone of the beginning of the song. The track was expanded in a way that felt like two completely different songs being smushed together at the last minute.
The mixing of the vocals and overall production of the track felt inconsistent when it reached the added section, like she was working in a different studio or with a different producer.
It wasn’t awful, but I’ll be sticking to listening to the original track.
This one takes a huge leap over the track above. I sincerely enjoyed this one. It features great production, unlike “intro (end of the world) – extended,” with a really cool outer-space feeling, ethereal instrumental that reminds me of her space-themed makeup brand rem beauty.
My favorite part of the track (you’ll hear me repeat this alot, warning) is the harmonies and background vocals, one of Grande’s strong suits. Particularly in the chorus, the harmonies and echoing vocals make the song soar. These harmonies and background vocals that Grande is so great at is a strong trend throughout both the original and deluxe albums, and is one of the main reasons I enjoy it so much.
This track isn’t anything too insane, but it fits well with the rest of the album, and I’m certainly not mad at its addition.
This one feels nostalgic for me – it feels infused with the essence of Grande’s older music. Right off the bat, it’s insanely catchy. Ariana Grande knows how to write a catchy pop song, that’s for sure.
The lyric “can you hold the space” made me giggle, reminding me of the explosive meme of an interview with her and Cynthia Erivo during promo for “Wicked,” where the interviewer’s question about “holding space” blew up on social media, creating a months-long joke. Grande responded to this on X (formerly Twitter) by saying she didn’t connect the dots on the correlation, and the lyrics were written before the interview. Still, it’s pretty funny.
I love the self-confidence she repeats throughout the piece, while still holding place for being in love. The message she sings about the importance of being able to stand on your own before entering a relationship is extremely important, and she gets it across perfectly through waves of synth and beautifully layered vocals. This really is a beautiful song of healing for her, which is the story she’s trying to tell with these deluxe tracks. And it’s a story she tells very well.
The softness of this track is a beautiful contrast to the other deluxe tracks, all of which are pretty synth-heavy. Grande’s ballad-esque vocals on the chorus are absolutely stunning, and a place in her voice I rarely get to her. Her gorgeous tone on this song is a testament to her range as an artist. Ariana, I beg of you: release more songs like this one.
“Hampstead” is a beautifully comprehensive response to intense fan speculation, telling them they really have no idea what’s going on in her life. It’s a stunningly softer, more nuanced version of “yes, and?” where she also comments on public scrutiny that has been so strong for her recently.
The fade-out of her voice into a less production-heavy sound and the rise of voices in a crowded room at the conclusion of the track wraps up the message of the song wonderfully, adding an entirely new layer of vulnerability to the piece.
Cellos, cellos, cellos. The instrumental on this track is absolutely breathtaking. As you probably guess from my little lead-in here, there are cellos in the instrumental. Cellos are such an under-used instrument in modern music, and they bring such depth and drama to a track. Grande does it perfectly with “past life.” The blend of synth with the “classical” instrument is amazing.
My favorite part of the track (besides the cellos, of course) is the pre-chorus. The vocals and harmonies are just stellar. Additionally, the muffled, harmony-heavy bridge is a beautiful contrast to the rest of the song.
Similar to “warm,” Grande emphasizes her newfound self confidence through lines like “I used to think you were the medicine, but you were just cold blue.” Like all the other tracks, it is insanely catchy, largely due to the insane instrumentation. This is probably my most played track on the deluxe since it’s come out, just because of how insanely catchy it is.
Now for the best of the best. To start with, the trumpet intro that fades into the synth beat is just incredible. As a jazz listener, I love seeing Grande branch into different types of instrumentals, an unusual path for her. The way the trumpets transform into the beat of the song is amazing.
Again, this track is unapologetically catchy. The vocal production is beautiful, especially on the chorus. The seductive, velvety sound she infuses into her vocals on the track is stunning. Throughout the piece, choral-reminiscent harmonies bring the song to a whole new level.
The bridge is the best part of the song. The stripped-away harmonies are just absolute perfection. I absolutely love when artists strip back the instrumental during the bridge or pre-chorus only to jump back in, giving a punch to the end of the song. Grande did that amazingly on “dandelion.”
With this beautiful deluxe album, Grande displays her beautiful healing journey over the past year, giving a message of hope that there really are brighter days ahead, only if you’re patient enough for them to come to the light.
