AUDIOJUNKIE: Ariana Grande, Viva Music: In the zone

I don’t think I’ve covered Ariana Grande enough. So, I’m setting it right and dedicating this week to the high-flying Ariana Grande. Good timing, too, as the 31-year-old “Wicked” star released the album “eternal sunshine: deluxe, brighter days ahead.”

Besides her songbird-level singing skills, Ariana is known for polished pop songs, the kind that usually has an R&B bent. Then there’s piano-decked ballads, rap collabs, and a club anthem here and there, the latter bringing to mind 2014’s excellent “Problem” and “One Last Time” as examples. But is Ariana a purveyor of cool-sounding synth-pop? The image of Ariana’s recent Grammy run with “Wicked” seems to contradict that statement. However, Ariana now has the vibing “Twilight Zone” and proves that a decade-plus into her career, she can still surprise. 

With a dreamy vibe, “twilight zone” (with the stylized lowercase title) sounds like a song time-machined out of the 80’s and updated for the Stranger Things generation. The track somewhat recalls Gwen Stefani’s 2004 hit “Cool” but breezier and leaning more ballad with a more understated production. Written by Ariana with Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh, the song was inspired by Ariana’s love for the popular 80’s sci-fi series of the same title. This isn’t the first time Ariana has dabbled with synth-pop. 2021 saw her collaborating with The Weeknd on the latter’s successful “Save Your Tears” hit. It could be that The Weeknd connection directly influenced Ariana’s foray into synth-pop. However, a track called “Love Me Harder” from Ariana’s 2014 album preceded “Save Your Tears”  by years. Regardless, Ariana is quite the musical shapeshifter to pull off a synth-pop track like “twilight zone” on her own. 

For its part, the updated deluxe album sees Ariana throwing every style and genre she’s mastered into a big melting pot, and she sets the oven to simmer. From the neo-soul strains of “intro (end of the world)”, the disco-drenched groove of “bye,” and to her R&B homebase with “don’t want to break up again.” At 19 tracks running over 55 minutes, Ariana could cover a lot of ground. Trap beats abound on the sweet “eternal sunshine.” Ditto with “the boy is mine,” the 80’s euro dance bounce of “yes, and?” and “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” with the latter also being synth-pop but overall brighter and optimistic despite its yearning themes. Other hotspots include sparse and twinkling “i wish i hated you” (with that Corey Hart “Never Surrender”-ish synth riff at the intro). And the sweet-sounding melodies of the acoustic guitar-driven “Imperfect for you,” with extra songs  that include the new single,  club-track “Warm,” “Dandelion” with its smoky, retro trumpet intro, and the acoustic-piano-flavored closer “Hampstead.” So yeah, Ariana’s definitely no one trick pony and can’t be easily boxed stylistically and musically. And, of course, one very wicked singer. 

Viva Music Group recently posted that its music labels occupy the top spots in the Spotify PH charts. Viva’s main labels occupied the top spots, with Vicor Music leading with “Tibok” by Earl Agustin taking the number one spot. Meanwhile,  Ivory Music’s first chart-topping artist in a long while, Amiel Sol, with his breakout hit “Sa Bawat Sandali,” is enjoying a sustained surge at number two, then Viva Record’s  top-band-of-the-moment Cup Of Joe is number three with their new song “Multo.” Viva Music Group head Verb Del Rosario commented that “this is a first for the label and couldn’t have been done without the artists and team behind all the record labels.” Congratulations!