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Primarily however, Spring 2024 brought the release of ‘eternal sunshine’, Ariana’s eighth studio album that is truly the most honest of all, exploring love, loss and everything in between.
An entire year later brings the release of ‘Eternal Sunshine: Brighter Days Ahead’, a deluxe album that features six new tracks, each an indication of her growth in the past year, a reminder that change is linear and unforgiving yet essential. This isn’t your average deluxe album however, as it features a 26-minute short film, serving as a continuation of the ‘We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)’ music video and referencing the movie that the album is named after, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. This film follows the character of Peaches, played by Ariana, who goes through a process of memory restoration, as she looks back on past love and accomplishments as the deluxe tracks accompany each memory seamlessly.
Although the first track is not entirely new, it is certainly a compelling way to continue the narrative of ‘Eternal Sunshine’. In ‘Intro (End Of The World) - Extended’ we see a stripped down Ariana, spilling out her truths and concerns with relationships, yet accompanied with a hopeful tone that elicits a sense of belonging, and a yearning for change. Within its angelic melody intertwined with lyrics that could be scribbled into a journal, this track feels like a new beginning, a sense of clarity.
Ariana has always had a knack for creating some of the most danceable pop tracks that coincide with raw and relatable breakup lyrics. She isn’t afraid to delve into the negative, even with a song that feels so upbeat. We have seen it in the past with ‘Ghostin’ and One Last Time’, and now we have ‘Twilight Zone’. This track opens up on the process of getting over a relationship, and the confusion that comes with it, even the disbelief that it ever even happened. With this album, even in the first two tracks, the maturity of Ariana’s sound has improved significantly. Accompanied with the smooth Max Martin production, we can see truly that in this album Ariana is confrontational, not to others so much but to herself.
‘Warm’ elicits some subtle notes of the ‘Sweetener’ era, and feels like a more mature version of ‘Goodnight N Go’, Ariana’s viral 2018 take on the Imogen Heap y2k classic - this track is essential to an Ariana album, short but sweet and full of unserious and witty words of longing. What really grabbed my attention however, was the following song entitled ‘Dandelion’, the definition of a stand-out track. Starting out with some smooth, jazzy trumpet noise, we are led to believe in the first 20 seconds that this will be a ballad possibly, a smooth and serious song. However, slowly but surely the beat drops and Ariana becomes a ‘Dangerous Woman’ once again. This song is both promiscuous and frivolous, and one that I suspect will vastly become a fan favourite.
Ariana’s vocals excel in ‘Past Life’, this stamina elevating the message of the track, an ode to moving on and leaving someone in the past for the sake of your own future. In this track we see Ariana healing from a relationship, a journey from the lyrics of heartbreak in ‘Warm’ and ‘Twilight Zone’. This journey then comes to an encouraging end with ‘Hampstead’, a piano ballad that pays homage to the area of London in which she filmed the majority of ‘Wicked’. This track simply feels like the correct way to end this era, as she gracefully addresses that although there has been a litany of lows in her past year due to the criticism she has received by the media, she is simply allowing herself to be in love no matter what the world throws at her.
Amy Porter
Image: KatiaTemkin
