Ariana Grande's latest album, Eternal sunhas officially arrived.
The 13-track album, his first since 2020 Positionsdelves into the pop star's innermost thoughts as she navigates heartbreak, self-discovery, and transformation as she nears the end of a broken relationship.
The fans can't get enough of it already. Since its release on March 8 at midnight, the album has reached No. 1 on the Apple Music Albums Chart in the United States. Here's everything you need to know about Grande's new music, which many are calling the singer's “divorce album.”
The track list
Eternal sun features 13 tracks with a total duration of just over 35 minutes. His first single “Yes and?” released on January 12. The second single is “We can't be friends.”
The full track listing is as follows:
“Intro (End of the World)”
“Bye”
“I don’t want to break up again.”
“Saturn Return Interlude”
“Eternal Sun”
“Supernatural”
“True story”
“The boy is mine”
“Yes and?”
“We can't be friends (wait for your love)”
“I wish I hated you.”
“Perfect for you”
“Ordinary Things” (feat. Nonna)
It is Grande's seventh studio album. She has already been released Your humble servant (2013), My everything (2014), Dangerous woman (2016), Sweetener (2018), Thanks, Next (2019) and Positions (2020).
What is the backstory?
The album's release comes months after Grande finalized her divorce from Dalton Gomez in October 2023. They had been married for almost two years.
In July 2023, news broke that Grande and Dalton had separated, with TMZ reporting that the couple had been separated since January. Days later, People reported Grande was dating her Wicked co-star Ethan Slater. Shortly after their relationship became public, Slater filed for divorce from his ex-wife Lilly Jay, with whom he welcomed a son in 2022.
Some fans were angry with Grande at the time for getting involved with a married man. Sources, however, said that Grande and Slater were already separated from their spouse when they started dating.
New music video
The moving video for “We Can't Be Friends” is a tribute to the 2004 film. Eternal sunshine of the impeccable mindwhich starred Jim Carey and Kate Winslet as a former couple who fade from their respective memories.
The video shows Grande erasing memories of an ex, played by American horror story star Evan Peters.
It ends when both complete the procedure. They then cross paths with different partners.
Grande said Apple Music's Zane Lowe in a March 7 interview, the original film's themes involving love, memory, and identity are what inspired her the most when writing the album.
“I think the film is so beloved because so many people can understand that something is wrong but love it so much and want to stay,” she said. “I think it kind of became apparent that these songs had little snippets of that theme in them. I felt really inspired by that.
Is this a divorce album?
In his album review, rolling stone describe Eternal sun as “a divorce album that goes through all the stages of grief”. THE Guardian called it an “insightful post-divorce album” that is “near impeccable.”
The first piece, “Introduction (End of the World)“, opens with the sentence: “How do I know if I'm in the right relationship?
“Aren’t you really supposed to know this shit / feel it in your bones and own this shit / I don’t know,” Grande sings. “Then I had this interaction that I've been thinking about for about five weeks / I wonder if he thinks about it too and smiles / I wonder if he knows that's what inspires me / I wonder if he judges me the way I am right now.”
Fans also receive the message, praising the singer onhealing and going through the stages of grief following divorce.”
One fan called it “his best work to date“, writing that those who “have been through difficult relationships or witnessed divorce” will fully understand this.
Was Ethan Slater the inspiration for “The Boy Is Mine?” »
The eighth track of the album is inspired by Brandy and Monica's 1998 hit of the same name. The original song is about two women who clash over their mutual affection for the same man, each claiming him as “mine”.
In Grande's version, she has a different outlook.
” How is it possible ? You and me / Maybe it's meant to be, I can't ignore it / But I don't want to cause a scene,” she sings. “I'm usually so simple / So independent / Tell me why / 'Cause the boy is mine, mine.”
Fans suggested that the lyrics are about Slater and the situation surrounding their respective divorces.
“Reading these lyrics and knowing they are written (about) Ethan Slater,” one fan wrote on X. Others We just called it “The Ethan Slater Song.”
It's not mine, it's probably Ethan Slater or something 💀#Ariana Grande
– Kokenita/YuJin War G 🤍 (@fangirl817) March 8, 2024
When talk to Lowe about “The Boy Is Mine,” Grande said she “always wanted to reinvent” the original in some way.
“I was like, 'This is a really bad idea, I think, but there's a big group of my fans who really love bad girl anthems,'” she explained. “And this is kind of an upgraded version of that.”
Meanwhile, fans praised Grande for not sampling the original song.
“I'm actually so glad Ariana's version of 'The Boy is Mine' doesn't sample Brandy and Monica's and is an original song,” one fan said. tweeted. “I just know the meltdown this song is going to cause will be INSANE.”
In a December 2023 interview, Monica said The Hollywood Reporter that the song was “a part of history that I would like to remain intact” and that if someone were to make it, they should “make it their own and do something totally different.”
And after?
Grande is the musical guest of Saturday Night Live March 9, alongside host Josh Brolin.