On October 30th, Ariana Grande released her sixth studio album titled Positions. The album itself is very provocative, and it is a quarantine-based update since the release of Sweetener and Thank U, Next from 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Grande has created an album to express her life and relationship with her new boyfriend Dalton Gomez. She seems happy in more ways than one.
The album is very sexual, to be blunt. She had never shied away from discussing aspects of her intimate relationships, but most every song on Positions is about sex, which is different from a lot of the music fans are used to. The pop and R&B aspects of this record are something that she seems to be enjoying, using the same techniques from her two previous albums.
Positions does not necessarily show a new side of Grande’s musical identity, but it’s definitely different. The music is the same, but also not. I’m not sure what it is about this one, but I’m not the biggest fan.
I was a big fan of Dangerous Woman, as well as the two aforementioned albums prior to her latest. Something about Positions doesn’t really scream “Ariana Grande” to me, even though the sounds are similar. A lot of the songs sound the same, and I found myself thinking, “this is a different song?” I think that looking back on her discography, Positions didn’t totally make sense as her follow-up to the groundbreaking Thank U, Next.
There is a lot of romantic and intimate emotion in the record. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, I enjoy plenty of artists who do this, and I even liked Grande’s past songs that had similar themes, like Side to Side with Nicki Minaj. She’s in love and having a good time with her boyfriend, and I totally get that. Something about the sounds just don’t totally sit well with me.
I still love Ariana Grande, don’t get me wrong, she’s one of the only modern artists that I really enjoy. I just don’t think I’ll be adding any songs from Positions to my “Current Favs” playlist. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.