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Published 2:39 pm Wednesday, March 13, 2024
The new Ariana Grande era — marked by her seventh studio album and first in nearly four years, “eternal sunshine,” began with a question — “Yes, And?”
The single — named after a general rule of thumb in improvisational comedy — marked a new musical pivot for the performer. Sure, she was working with one of the greatest pop producers of all time again — the mysterious Swedish powerhouse Max Martin — but now, she was filtering her earworm hooks through ‘90s house music.
The bridge has echoes of “Vogue” (not unlike Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul”) and its lyrics recall a kind of Lady Gaga “Born This Way” empowerment (an example: “Boy, come on, put your lipstick on/No one can tell you nothin’”) while also offering a public defense to tabloid representation (“Don’t comment on my body, do not reply.”) It’s a great song, but it doesn’t include Grande’s signature runs; there’s no larger-than-life vocal moment, what her listeners have come to know her for. In some ways, it makes “Yes, And?” a bit of a red herring on “eternal sunshine.”
Belt she does throughout the release — her idiosyncratic vocal tone stretches across the funky, finger-snapping, shimmery disco of “Bye.” There’s her breathy falsetto on “Don’t Wanna Break Up” (sung with “I’m too much to you/ So I really gotta do the thing I don’t wanna do,” a reminder that this is her first album since her divorce from real estate agent Dalton Gomez), the pop “Supernatural,” and the wobbly ‘00s R&B pop of “True Story” like a long lost Destiny’s Child cut. In the latter, her weapons are once again raised: “I’ll play whatever part you need me to,” she sings. ”And, I’ll be good in it, too.”