{"id":6660,"date":"2026-08-16T17:06:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T22:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=6660"},"modified":"2026-08-16T17:30:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T22:30:39","slug":"ive-always-been-a-strange-little-sponge-for-different-sounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=6660","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve Always Been A Strange Little Sponge For Different Sounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Ariana Grande released her previous studio album\u2014eternal sunshine in 2024\u2014the multitalented superstar was deep into the \u201cGlinda-era\u201d that consumed her glossy pop icon persona so wholly, the fact she was working on music at all during that time period came as something of a surprise. With Grande sporting a golden blonde ponytail and her voice lingering mainly in the upper reaches of her already flexible range to protect her vocal health, the two projects\u2014eternal sunshine and Wicked\u2014seemingly synthesized, capturing Grande as she absorbed new elements into her artistry, like a chameleon blooming into color.<\/p>\n

petal, however, arrives outside of the bubble that contained the Wicked franchise and its ubiquitous presence in pop culture, making Grande (signature brunette now restored) feel immediately more present and familiar as she continues to wrestle with her experiences in the public eye. There are shades from every one of her sonic palettes here. \u201cnever get over me\u201d borrows its strutting confidence from Dangerous Woman, while \u201cbig feelings\u201d (effortless wordplay with a coy wink on the side) demonstrates her ability to be both fun and funny, in the vein of tracks like \u201cSide to Side.\u201d Album closer \u201cnowhere, nobody,\u201d with its self-soothing lyrics and stacked vocal design, wouldn\u2019t sound too out of place on Sweetener. It\u2019s self-referential in that her inspirations\u2014childhood favorites including Mariah Carey and Imogen Heap\u2014are as much a part of her musical fingerprint as her own innate expressions that they show up repeatedly across her body of work. \u201cI love a lot of different things,\u201d Grande tells Apple Music. \u201cI\u2019ve always just been a strange little sponge for different sounds and I\u2019ve always really stuck to what I like. I don\u2019t really like listening to new things.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Stream Now! Image Courtesy Of Apple.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

eternal sunshine found Grande still attempting to reason gently about her relationship with, perhaps, a lover. (Or was it her relationship to fame? Her fans? The media? Her own sense of self?) However, petal\u2014also co-produced by Max Martin-prot\u00e9g\u00e9 ILYA\u2014strips out the warm tones of its predecessor, striking a camp, horror note that ties the prevailing themes together. From the title track\u2019s slow, oppressive waltz with the pain she feels obliged to perform for public consumption and the plinky, discordant synth stabs of \u201clike i do,\u201d the songs sound less like fairy tales here and more like cautionary ones\u2014maybe even the kind of \u201cwarning signs\u201d she references in the telling interlude of that name. \u201cI wrote from a place that I don\u2019t usually, which was like an unfiltered rage that I think we all feel sometimes,\u201d she says. \u201cI usually am too shy to tap into that, and I think this time I kind of just didn\u2019t filter as much as I usually do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the levity that often appears to be the source of Grande\u2019s resilience in the face of public scrutiny remains. \u201cI\u2019m making friends with my consequence,\u201d she sings on \u201clike i do,\u201d converting parasocial engagement into dollar amounts and later teasing \u201cyou hate to love me\u2026\u201d Sure. But for the record: she hates to love you too.<\/p>\n

Every product\/service is selected by editors. Products\/Services you buy through these links may earn “Streamapse Online Magazine” a commission or revenue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Ariana Grande released her previous studio album\u2014eternal sunshine in 2024\u2014the multitalented superstar was deep into the \u201cGlinda-era\u201d that consumed her glossy pop icon persona so wholly, the fact she was working on music at all during that time period came as something of a surprise. With Grande sporting a golden blonde ponytail and her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,346],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conversations","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6660"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6672,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6660\/revisions\/6672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}