Ariana Grande — Home — What’s Cool?

Last year, Ariana Grande impressed fans and critics alike with the release of her fifth studio album thank u, next. A sign of maturity, that album was one of my favorite pop records of 2019. Grande’s aesthetic began to blossom fully, and tracks like “7 Rings” and the album’s title track still impress me. After a quick turn around, Grande has released her new album Positions. While not as impressive or cohesive as her last project, I still enjoyed many of the tracks here, and I’m still excited to see what Ariana has to offer in the future.

Ariana Grande is somewhat known for her excellent opening tracks. “shut up” is a multi-layered, moody, and sassy track that indicates the project’s vibe right from the beginning. It’s hard not to be impressed by Grande’s impeccable performances, especially when accompanied by the bouncy, rap-like refrains found throughout. It’s nowhere close to a track like “imagine,” but it’s still not too shabby. “34+35” is a cheeky, tongue-in-cheek track that lets Grande’s promiscuous side shine. Gratuitously sexual lyrics have been popularized and normalized this year, as evidence by tracks like “WAP.” Some have described this project as Ariana Grande’s “horniest album” yet, which is hilarious but quite honestly fairly accurate.

“motive (with Doja Cat)” is another bouncy, fast-paced pop track with a lot of potential, but potential I don’t think it fully capitalizes on. I enjoy Grande’s contributions to the track, but I found Doja Cat’s feature here pretty underwhelming. With these two on the same track, I expect more than what was delivered. “just like magic” features an impressive vocal performance from Grande, but the song’s tempo and subject matter leave me wanting a little bit more. Up to this point, the album is slightly above average, but nothing to write home about.

“off the table (with The Weeknd)” is a heartfelt and sensual track that uses its feature appropriately and effectively. Abel’s performance reminds me of his vocals on Beauty Behind The Madness, which certainly isn’t a bad thing. If you want to get in your feels, this could be the track for you. “six thirty” matches the rest of the album’s aesthetic, but the repetitive lyrics feel a bit underdeveloped to me. “safety net (feat. Ty Dolla $ign)” is a pretty decent, radio-friendly pop track that demonstrates yet again why Ty is such a solid feature artist.

The back half of the album is impressive to me. “my hair” is a cute track with what sounds like, to me, a strong Pharrell influence. The whistling here is a bit much, but otherwise, I enjoy this song. That over-the-top whistling performance continues into “nasty”, which is one of the least impressive tracks on the album for me. It’s fairly one-note and underdeveloped, leaving me wanting more depth. “west side” provides T R A P S O U L-like production and Bryson Tiller-esque flow from Grande. This is a very smooth and cool track. The transition into “love language” is a bit abrupt, but this song’s instrumentation is too upbeat not to enjoy.

The final three tracks are all very strong. The title track and lead single for this album, “positions”, is an absolutely fantastic song. Grande has become an expert at creating these sorts of songs, and I don’t get tired of this aesthetic. Grandiose production and multilayered vocal performances never get old. The music video rocks, too. “obvious” is a short-lived track with a hard-hitting base backing that sets up the final track very nicely. "The album’s closer “pov” is my favorite song on the album, and one of my favorites in Grande’s discography in quite some time. Heartfelt, passionate, and beautifully composed, this final track alone makes up for a lot of what the rest of the album is missing.

Overall, I think a little more time in the studio could’ve really rounded out this project and brought it to its full potential, but this is still a solid Ariana Grande album. A slight step down from thank u, next, but on the same level as a project like Sweetener for me. This is a good album in general, with the highs being extremely impressive and the lows just slightly underwhelming. I highly recommend you give Positions a listen. Thanks for reading!

Favorite tracks: “shut up”, “34+35”, “off the table (with The Weeknd)”, “safety net (feat. Ty Dolla $ign)”, “my hair”, “west side”, “love language”, “positions”, “pov”

SCORE: 7/10