Album Review.
Likes: Dangerous Woman, Be Alright, Leave Me Lonely
Dislikes: Everyday, Bad Decisions
Overall: Especially generic music, silly lyrics and a childish basis ruin any possible bright spots
Record labels don't do their acts any favors by having them release albums annually, as they could suffer from fatigue (promotional/touring periods are physically and vocally grueling), overexposure, and not having any room to grow creatively. The young and green are hurt the most by this practice, and it's even more damaging with artist development being a thing of the past. Like a seed that's never watered (or even planted), they're left to be impotently stagnant, with only a suggestion of what they could be. As many of her contemporaries, Ariana Grande is a prime example of this. She had vocal dexterity and all the right influences and favorite artists (including Mariah Carey and Brandy), but she was prematurely placed center stage without the tools to cultivate her own identity, brand and trajectory above the minimum pop-starlet requirements (charting and sufficiently likable). It shows when you're thrown in a pool and asked to swim like Michael Phelps. She sold out Madison Square Garden before she learned to sing with zeal and conviction, have stage presence and assuredness, really nail an 8-count and formulate a cohesive "sound" (she waddles between throwback R&B and dance queen).To boot, her imaging was erratic and extreme, going from toddler-teen to sexed-up teen in the blink of an eye (not sure why "genteel young-adult" wasn't an option).
Grande sings with confidence and has more writing credits on her 3rd studio LP, Dangerous Woman, but her overreaching problems are just as appreciable. The patterned and non-proprietary way in which the material is drafted denotes it's all about meeting requisites; none of it seems to come from the heart. Many tracks have an effect-heavy, flat-line, characterless and repetitive production design (ex. "Touch It" and "Side to Side" with Nicki Minaj) that goes nowhere. Even when I was making a conscious effort to pay attention, I couldn't. I kept having to replay songs to remember how they sounded (has Max Martin lost his hand of Midas?). The vocal arrangements are predictable; you know what she's going to do before she does it. The lyrics? Lawd, have mercy....there is definitely a theme, but it's disappointingly jejune and callow. Ariana's definition of a "dangerous woman" is a woman who's lustful and chases after bad-boys *rolls eyes.* In March, she told Billboard the record's title was changed from Moonlight to Dangerous Woman because it was "a lot stronger" choice: "I want to be empowering my fans...To me, a dangerous woman is someone who’s not afraid to take a stand, be herself and to be honest." When the new name was first announced, she quoted feminist author Nawal El Saadawi on Instagram: "They said, 'You are a savage and dangerous woman.' I am speaking the truth, and the truth is savage and dangerous." Too bad the lyrics aren't about any of that. What stand is being taken? What savage truth are we tackling? That you're horny? Aren't we all sometimes? It's not like she discussed sex within the context of gender-politics. Using what's actually there, to spring-board from the title-track, Dangerous Woman could've been Crazy Beautiful or "Love the Way You Lie" in album form. Applying it more literally, a self-sabotage or femme-fatale concept would've been efficient. Since no one thought to drive down any of these honeymoon avenues, I'm left to assume the swap had to do more to do with a change in direction than anything else. Seeing as how the song "Moonlight" (also super bland, but pretty) doesn't match the others and "Focus" was dropped altogether, I'm thinking I'm right (plus, she all but confirmed it on Jimmy Kimmel's show).
Likes: Dangerous Woman, Be Alright, Leave Me Lonely
Dislikes: Everyday, Bad Decisions
Overall: Especially generic music, silly lyrics and a childish basis ruin any possible bright spots
Record labels don't do their acts any favors by having them release albums annually, as they could suffer from fatigue (promotional/touring periods are physically and vocally grueling), overexposure, and not having any room to grow creatively. The young and green are hurt the most by this practice, and it's even more damaging with artist development being a thing of the past. Like a seed that's never watered (or even planted), they're left to be impotently stagnant, with only a suggestion of what they could be. As many of her contemporaries, Ariana Grande is a prime example of this. She had vocal dexterity and all the right influences and favorite artists (including Mariah Carey and Brandy), but she was prematurely placed center stage without the tools to cultivate her own identity, brand and trajectory above the minimum pop-starlet requirements (charting and sufficiently likable). It shows when you're thrown in a pool and asked to swim like Michael Phelps. She sold out Madison Square Garden before she learned to sing with zeal and conviction, have stage presence and assuredness, really nail an 8-count and formulate a cohesive "sound" (she waddles between throwback R&B and dance queen).To boot, her imaging was erratic and extreme, going from toddler-teen to sexed-up teen in the blink of an eye (not sure why "genteel young-adult" wasn't an option).
Grande sings with confidence and has more writing credits on her 3rd studio LP, Dangerous Woman, but her overreaching problems are just as appreciable. The patterned and non-proprietary way in which the material is drafted denotes it's all about meeting requisites; none of it seems to come from the heart. Many tracks have an effect-heavy, flat-line, characterless and repetitive production design (ex. "Touch It" and "Side to Side" with Nicki Minaj) that goes nowhere. Even when I was making a conscious effort to pay attention, I couldn't. I kept having to replay songs to remember how they sounded (has Max Martin lost his hand of Midas?). The vocal arrangements are predictable; you know what she's going to do before she does it. The lyrics? Lawd, have mercy....there is definitely a theme, but it's disappointingly jejune and callow. Ariana's definition of a "dangerous woman" is a woman who's lustful and chases after bad-boys *rolls eyes.* In March, she told Billboard the record's title was changed from Moonlight to Dangerous Woman because it was "a lot stronger" choice: "I want to be empowering my fans...To me, a dangerous woman is someone who’s not afraid to take a stand, be herself and to be honest." When the new name was first announced, she quoted feminist author Nawal El Saadawi on Instagram: "They said, 'You are a savage and dangerous woman.' I am speaking the truth, and the truth is savage and dangerous." Too bad the lyrics aren't about any of that. What stand is being taken? What savage truth are we tackling? That you're horny? Aren't we all sometimes? It's not like she discussed sex within the context of gender-politics. Using what's actually there, to spring-board from the title-track, Dangerous Woman could've been Crazy Beautiful or "Love the Way You Lie" in album form. Applying it more literally, a self-sabotage or femme-fatale concept would've been efficient. Since no one thought to drive down any of these honeymoon avenues, I'm left to assume the swap had to do more to do with a change in direction than anything else. Seeing as how the song "Moonlight" (also super bland, but pretty) doesn't match the others and "Focus" was dropped altogether, I'm thinking I'm right (plus, she all but confirmed it on Jimmy Kimmel's show).
It's ironic that Grande is passing this record off as having sage roots and being honest, when the content is so puerile and phony. On "Bad Decisions" she peddles "We got that hood love...Ain’t you ever seen a princess be a bad bitch?" Girl, what? Do you even know what you're talking about? She sounds so ridiculous. She throws curse words around, no matter if the usage makes sense or is called for, similar to a middle-schooler. She ruins and interrupts the flow of halfway acceptable songs doing this, like on the alluring, D'Angelo/90's R&B-esque "I Don't Care" and jazzy "Jason's Song (Gave it Away)." Sweet instrumentation cascades into your ears, only for "sh*t" to randomly slam in the opening lines. Surely the vocabulary of people who jot lyrics for a living (co-writers include Ilya, Martin, Alexander Kronlund and previous collaborators Tommy Brown, Victoria Monet and Savan Kotecha) isn't so limited. "Jason's Song" also has this dopey moment: " You focused your frustration on a small detail, blew it out of scale, like my ponytail." Other tracks that are stultified by their adjacent components are "Let Me Love You" featuring Lil' Wayne, "Greedy" and "Leave Me Lonely" with the always enchanting Macy Gray. A self-loathing "numbing from the pain" cut, "Let Me" is one of the few with a resemblance of emotion, but the monotony of the music deflates it. "Greedy" is rhythmically fun (roller skates!), sticks in my head and has some vocal worth, but I have no interest in the witless "hungry for the D" premise. Dramatic and James Bond-y, "Leave Me" is the best on the album. It's single slight is that Grande and Gray feel so detached from each other that Gray's portion sounds like a sample. It was the perfect time for Ariana to plunge into the gulfs of her voice, but she stayed in the rafters. I crave to hear the versatility she demonstrates in her impression videos and late-night TV appearances in her own music. "Knew Better/Forever Boy" is only winsome because it's 2 songs in 1 that answer each other and transition from R&B/hip-hop to electronic-dance. Then, you deduct points because "Forever" is a (possibly unintentional) spin-off of "Be Alright."
Undistinguishing, anemic and hackneyed, Dangerous Woman is 17 tracks too long and a tedious listen. It's clear it was built around its leading track and a couple of supporting singles. It wasn't erected to be complete; anything to the contrary is frontage. Maybe I shouldn't be, but I'm honestly a bit surprised. I liked the first 2 singles and several songs Grande's penned in the past (ex. "Tattooed Heart," "Almost is Never Enough," "My Everything" and "Best Mistake") were quite nice. It could be said that she's following par for the course or just being 22, but others who were at or around her age, such as Taylor Swift, Adele, Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas, were able to show some reasonable urbanity and maturity. Then again, they're songwriting musicians. As Jessica Simpson or Whitney Houston, Ariana may just have a voice and the rest will be up to others. That's a scary prospect, bearing in mind my introductory paragraph.
Undistinguishing, anemic and hackneyed, Dangerous Woman is 17 tracks too long and a tedious listen. It's clear it was built around its leading track and a couple of supporting singles. It wasn't erected to be complete; anything to the contrary is frontage. Maybe I shouldn't be, but I'm honestly a bit surprised. I liked the first 2 singles and several songs Grande's penned in the past (ex. "Tattooed Heart," "Almost is Never Enough," "My Everything" and "Best Mistake") were quite nice. It could be said that she's following par for the course or just being 22, but others who were at or around her age, such as Taylor Swift, Adele, Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas, were able to show some reasonable urbanity and maturity. Then again, they're songwriting musicians. As Jessica Simpson or Whitney Houston, Ariana may just have a voice and the rest will be up to others. That's a scary prospect, bearing in mind my introductory paragraph.
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