Ariana Grande has been consistently releasing an album a year since 2018, and she does not seem like she will be letting up soon! Grande made sure not to let 2020 end without giving her fans an album. On October 30, 2020, Grande released her 14 track album Positions, which performed well commercially. By the end of the first week the album charted number one on the Billboard Top 200, which became Grande’s fifth US number one debut and the fourth album by a female artist to reach number one in 2020. On November 14, 2020, all the tracks on Positions were on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time, just like her previous album Thank U, Next. With all of these accomplishments she has made it is safe to say Grande has been dominating the charts as of late.
For the actual sound of the album, I feel it is similar to her two most recent albums Sweetener and Thank U, Next. It gives off a pop vibe with a touch of R&B. The fact that the album had 14 songs really surprised me because Grande has both been through a lot and been putting out a lot of music these past few years. I did not know what to expect from this album because I was not really expecting her to release it so soon, I thought it would be pushed back. Nonetheless, the single “Positions” was released, and I was once again pretty excited about the album release.
“Positions” was ultimately my favorite track. It gave us classic Ariana Grande and just a general catchy bop. I think it fit perfectly as the title track and first released single. The other single released was “34+35” which for me felt like the only other fast tempo song on the album. Much of the rest of the album’s songs are slower and more romantic than the singles. I felt that was a bit of a flip because the two singles reflect the album lyrically but not at the same pace.
Some of the songs felt like Grande was being lowkey and did not put as much effort into singing. Typically, this doesn’t bother me, but for this album it left me waiting for the songs to pick up, waiting for more wow moments. I completely understand not wanting to necessarily be over energetic for every song. Although while listening to the album it got to the point where Grande sang like she was preoccupied with something else when recording. A few songs I felt this way for were “West Side”, “Just Like Magic”, “Shut Up”, “Obvious”, and “POV”.
A song that really stuck out to me was “My Hair”. I do not believe I have heard Grande do anything like that before. I think her vocalization on it was beautiful and a nice switch up on the album. “Motive” and “Love Language” are also both worth a mention because they remind me of songs that I would hear while in a mall in a random clothing store due to the refreshing beat.
For the most part this was a decent album. I struggled with a rating because I actually listen to a decent amount of the songs separately, so it is hard for me to listen to the album straight through without losing interest. If you’re an Ariana Grande fan (or Arianator) you’ll like it, but personally I don’t believe it’s her best nor even in her top three albums. I feel like it was an album to just give her fans random content, and not as much effort was put in on some songs (although the visuals so far have been super creative). This isn’t a bad thing I just expected a little more.
Rating: 6.5/10
Favorite Tracks: “Positions” and “My Hair”
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