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Post by Admin on Oct 29, 2020 5:02:05 GMT
Less than a week after Ariana Grande released the empowering music video for her new single, "Positions," fans are already re-creating her distinctive, mod makeup looks. Though she takes on the role of president, Grande's '60s-inspired style in the video closely resembles that of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Her hair and makeup similarly match the swinging decade, with her dramatic cat eye and contrasting cut-crease eyeshadow being a real focal point, as well as the common theme among the fun re-creations happening on TikTok and Instagram. Some people, however, also chose to re-create the full look — bouffant and all. Enjoy some of our favorites ahead.
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Post by Admin on Oct 30, 2020 5:32:48 GMT
Ariana Grande has released her new album positions. She announced the project in mid-October before releasing the song’s title track with a new music video last week. The album features guest spots from Doja Cat (“motive”), The Weeknd (“off the table”), and Ty Dolla $ign (“safety net”). Listen to the whole thing below.
positions is Grande’s sixth studio album and her fourth record in under three years. She released Sweetener in August of 2018 and followed it with thank u, next at the beginning of February in 2019. She also recorded a live album on her Sweetener world tour, k bye for now (swt live), and released it in December of last year.
Earlier this year, Grande joined Lady Gaga on “Rain on Me,” from Gaga’s May album Chromatica. The two performed the song together at MTV’s Video Music Awards in August as part of a Chromatica medley at the ceremony. The track won for Song of the Year, Best Collaboration, and Best Cinematography. Grande’s springtime single with Justin Bieber, “Stuck with U,” also won for Best Music Video from Home.
In addition to her recent solo work, Grande has co-written a number of other collaborations. She developed “Ice Cream” with her “7 rings” co-writer Victoria Monét for BLACKPINK and Selena Gomez, and the track appeared on the K-pop group’s debut studio album earlier this year.
Prior to that, Grande and Monét teamed up on “Monopoly” last spring, and Grande co-wrote Normani’s debut solo single “Motivation,” which arrived a few months later. After taking the executive producer chair on the soundtrack for last year’s reboot of Charlie’s Angels, she remixed Lizzo’s hit “Good as Hell.” Grande also appeared as Piccola Grande, the Pickle Fairy of Hope on an episode of Jim Carrey’s Showtime comedy-drama Kidding.
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Post by Admin on Oct 30, 2020 7:28:48 GMT
If Ariana Grande’s Sweetener found the singer exorcising her trauma through music, and Thank U, Next was a bolt of inspiration she couldn’t wait to share with the world, her follow-up, Positions, feels more like an obligation or a product of pandemic fatigue. On the opening track, “Shut Up,” Grande admits that “All the demons help me see shit differently,” but Positions has less to say about the realities of life in 2020 than other albums written and recorded during Covid-19, such as Charli XCX’s How I’m Feeling Now. Sex is, notably, a recurring theme on Positions. “Just give me them babies,” Grande quips on “34+35,” while “Nasty” sounds like a Janet Jackson sex jam as sung by Mariah Carey—that is, a lot of empty pillow talk and plentiful dog whistles. Grande is known for her witty turns of phrase, and there’s no shortage throughout Positions, the title of which is itself a cheeky double entendre. But clever lines like “Are you down like six thirty?” are too often wasted on wan, repetitive hooks. “Shut Up” finds Grande venturing into chamber pop, her cascading vocal lines propped up by plucky strings and orchestral flourishes, but the song sputters out soon after it reaches its swirling, cinematic climax. Similarly, the full-bodied “My Hair” nudges Grande into neo-soul terrain only to quickly fade out. The songs are almost all exceedingly brief and seemingly half-realized, including the two-minute “West Side,” which barely registers as a song at all. The sole exception is “Off the Table,” which stretches out to four whole minutes thanks to its molasses-slow pace. Given the dearth of uptempo tracks on Grande’s last album, the microhouse “Motive,” featuring Doja Cat, and the breathless, disco-inflected “Love Language” are a welcome change of pace. Too many of the songs on Positions, however, rely on the same midtempo trap-pop that populated Grande’s previous two efforts, particularly Thank U, Next. What once seemed refreshing in its minimalism is quickly starting to feel insubstantial. It might be time for contemporary pop’s reigning vocal acrobat to more fully commit to some new positions.
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Post by Admin on Oct 30, 2020 19:49:56 GMT
Ariana Grande unveiled her new album Positions on Friday (Oct. 30), and fans are losing it over the LP's sensual fusion of pop and R&B, orchestral arrangements and throwback '90s vibes.
"She really did create her own sound... forget r&b and pop, the genre really is just ariana grande," one fan declared of the album's sound, while another fan account was blown away by Ari's sky-high vocal gymnastics that permeate the 14 tracks, writing, "Cannot believe ariana is singing entire sentences in her whistle register... literally didn’t even know that was possible?! wtf."
Many fans were also quick to praise stunning album closer "POV" as a clear frontrunner for fan-favorite cut on the studio set.
"The new #POSITIONS album, by #ArianaGrande is GREAT, but... 'pov' ?!?! That's a OTHER LEVEL," one proclaimed of the ballad on Twitter, while another summed up their feelings this way: "Ariana Grande...keep doing what you're doing because what you did with POV was...that WAS A MASTERPIECE."
Led by its flirty title track and its White House fantasy of a music video, Positions follows 2019's Thank U, Next as the singer's first album in more than 18 months, as well as her first since wrapping her record-breaking Sweetener World Tour in December of last year.
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Post by Admin on Oct 31, 2020 4:00:43 GMT
Ariana Grande released her new album on Friday, and while it's been broadly welcomed by critics, most agree the singer does not break any new ground.
The 27-year-old's sixth album Positions is an upbeat affair, and sees her celebrating her new relationship with estate agent Dalton Gomez.
Several outlets, including The Evening Standard, The Telegraph and The Independent, awarded it three stars.
NME said the album "lacks the megawatt pop belters of previous releases".
Reviewer Hannah Mylrea said in her own three-star review: "As an introduction to the next era of Grande's career, it's solid, but you can't help but feel it's missing some of her trademark sparkle."
The Guardian's Alexis Petridis agreed, writing: "Positions deals in polished professionalism, not pulse-quickening excitement.
"There isn't an obvious standout track, nor is it the teeming smorgasbord of potential singles that constituted [her last album] Thank U, Next.
"Combined with the languorous pace at which Positions proceeds, the overall effect is of individual tracks bleeding into one long slow-motion shot."
Grande is credited as a songwriter on all 14 tracks, while other contributors include Ryan Tedder and her long-term writing partner Victoria Monet.
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