Thank U, Next is forceful and fascinating yet hardly machine-tooled with the casual listener in mind. The price of entry is a fascination with Grande’s traumas.
Of course, the album is a highly polished product and not some diary page. But it feels lived in, truthful, authentic. thank u, next is a personal statement from a generational talent who is still only 25 years old.
Ariana Grande’s choice to make thank u, next one of the most sonically interesting records of its type ever recorded, littered with warped synths, clicks, pops and esoteric whistles, is one that overflows with big dick energy.
thank u, next is a younger cousin to 1989 (explosion of self) and ANTI (redefinition of voice). By encompassing both Taylor’s transformation of memory to grand pop statement and Rihanna’s reinvention of voice in space, thank u, next exists as a text of genuine pop futurability.
The difference with thank u next is, this time Grande is swaggering with the confidence that comes with unquestioned stardom.
The entire album plays like one epic pop-playlist, perfect for blasting in your car, getting ready for a night out (or night in) with girlfriends or while perhaps mulling the many aspects – both good and bad – of your life.
It’s contradictory, assured yet tender. It’s delicate but strong. It’s sweet pop music wrapped in an unbreakable metal shell. It’s beautiful but vulgar. It is, frankly, much more than we could have ever hoped for from her.
It’s a lovely, intimate collection that embraces its essential paradox of being both a grand pop statement and a bedroom-pop wonder.
Throughout the set’s 40-some minutes, Grande is invariably confident and assertive, but this thrilling display of empowerment is always underscored by a disarming vulnerability, a frankness which seems to go beyond the social media relatability required of today’s junior pop stars.
The songs themselves sound fleet of foot, intimate and immediate .... Grande’s modus operandi feels attuned to the way fans connect to musicians today.
thank u, next is a very accomplished album which showcases Grande’s inner strength and emotional maturity in the face of the undeniably harrowing trauma she has suffered in the past couple of years. Forget Grande: This album is a Venti, with an extra shot.
Overall, Thank U, Next does exactly what a good pop album is supposed to do.
sweetener might have been her feather-light comeback – symbolic of the hope found on the other side of darkness – but thank u, next somehow feels like more of the cathartic, ‘lays everything bare’ record.
Sweetener is no longer Ariana Grande's strongest album.
It is an album that ultimately serves as both an emancipation and a proclamation, Grande fully bending her collaborators to her will instead of merely playing in their sandboxes, and creating a blissful fusion of pop and R&B that is entirely her own.
It lacks a centrepiece to match the arresting depth and space of Sweetener’s “God Is A Woman”, but Grande handles its shifting moods and cast of producers with engaging class and momentum.
It could easily be a self-pitying album, one ready to dwell in the wreckage of incidents, but instead keeps picking up and moving on; providing a guide to how to keep on keeping on even when it feels like whatever you do is going to end in devastation.
This feels like the work of a pop star previously happy to act as conduit for other people, finally working out who they are and what they want to say. Here, Grande finds her voice.
It's been hard not to root for Grande over the past couple years, so it's especially rewarding to hear her coming out the other side of grief and trauma with her strongest body of work to date.
Released five months after the catharsis of Sweetener, these songs of affirmation feel lighter, freer, and more fun, carried effortlessly by Grande’s undeniable voice.
thank u, next brims with samples and references used in unexpected and fascinating ways.
thank u, next may lack some of the bleeding heart and zeitgeist-arresting power of Sweetener, but with this broad and biting follow-up release, Ari’s crown remains secure and her throne unrivalled.
Thank U, Next is easily Grande’s most sonically consistent effort to date, even if that means some of the album’s sleek R&B tracks tend to blur together.
thank u, next tells two tales of one Ari, a woman who can’t help leaning into pop’s worst excesses and cultural appetites, but who has also found herself cracked open by misfortune, aching but still willing to be openly vulnerable, to seek healing by singing backup for herself.
Having displayed lung power, sold records, looked askance at the pop machine and suffered in new and horrendously modern ways, Grande has pulled a diva move that few could have predicted: she has now become controversial.
Pop is best when it's sweet, but the artificial aftertaste of Thank U, Next is a bitter disappointment.
This is rushed. It has lackluster song writing. The album’s title song clearly is the only song with personality. This is by far the least interesting follow up to her big smash single “Thank U, Next.”
Unfortunately disappointing
Edit (59 -> 74): I was wrong
DISCLAIMER: GET READY FOR ANOTHER BOT INVASION GUYS (Zayn stans ain't gone have shit on Ari, once this drops)
Review: This was not nearly as bad as I was expecting. I have been trashing the singles off of this thing (Especially 7 Rings) since they came out and was totally expecting this record to be significantly worse than any of Grande's previous works. The production is extremely clean and crisp, and Ariana's vocals are as strong and varied as ever.
My biggest issue on this record would ... read more
Come one, come all, I can legally diagnose you with Girlfriendtoldmetolistentothis syndrome. No down payment.
Anyways, I just pretend this album is an enigma with no artist attached to it. I can't stand Ariana as a figure, let alone her avid fans, but you gotta give credit where credit is due. It's kinda funny how most people think this album is drab compared to Sweetener. "Thank u, next" is far more eccentric and bubbly in comparison to it's predecessor which got waaaaaay too ... read more
imagine - 9
needy - 10
NASA - 10
bloodline - 10
fake smile - 7
bad idea - 10
make up - 10
ghostin - 8
in my head - 10
7 rings - 10
thank u, next - 8
break up with your girlfriend, i'm bored - 8
imagine - 9
needy - 9
NASA - 8
bloodline - 8
fake smile - 7
bad idea - 8
make up - 9
ghostin - 10
in my head - 10
7 rings - 8
thank u, next - 9
break up with your girlfriend, i'm bored - 7
First Experience: It was an interesting experience, but it's not a style of music I like that much. I can understand the hype, but it didn't captivate me.
Added to my playlist: 7 rings and thank u, next.
1 | imagine 3:32 | 83 |
2 | needy 2:51 | 83 |
3 | NASA 3:02 | 77 |
4 | bloodline 3:36 | 83 |
5 | fake smile 3:28 | 81 |
6 | bad idea 4:27 | 83 |
7 | make up 2:20 | 71 |
8 | ghostin 4:31 | 87 |
9 | in my head 3:42 | 80 |
10 | 7 rings 2:58 | 77 |
11 | thank u, next 3:27 | 85 |
12 | break up with your girlfriend, i'm bored 3:10 | 78 |
#1 | / | Billboard |
#1 | / | PEOPLE |
#1 | / | Rolling Stone |
#2 | / | GQ [UK] |
#2 | / | Uproxx |
#2 | / | Us Weekly |
#3 | / | Complex |
#5 | / | Consequence of Sound |
#7 | / | Associated Press |
#11 | / | Gaffa (Denmark) |