"thank u, next" by Ariana Grande

Cover(s) of thank u, next
Grande released a cover with a black frame for the physical
edition of the album, while the digital one is pink.

"thank u, next" is the fifth studio album by American singer Ariana Grande and it was released on February 8, 2019. After the release of her previous studio album "Sweetener" in August 2018, Grande began working on a new album in October of the same year with her friends Tommy Brown, Max Martin and fellow singer, Victoria Monet. The album was created in the midst of personal matters, including her break up with fiancé Pete Davidson and the death of her ex-boyfriend, the rapper Mac Miller. 

The last two years, Ariana Grande has been to hell and back. After the Manchester terrorist attack that interrupted her concert in May 22, 2017, everyone was expecting a very dramatic album with power ballads and we were ready to cry our eyes out. A year after the sad event, she came back with the first single from her album "Sweetener", "No Tears Left To Cry". With this single, Ariana was ready to keep going with a positive vibe. She didn't want to cry anymore, she wanted to sweeten the situation and bring light to everyone listening, which wasn't really what we expected, but we were pretty happy Ariana was happy.

"Sweetener" was a very controversial album sound wise. People either loved it or hated it. Some fans blame Pharrell, who produced the songs on the album that awoke very different opinions. I personally think he did a good job producing some songs, like "Successful", a very catchy bop; but some others, like "The Light Is Coming", are too repetitive and have some elements that are deeply unnecessary and so annoying that not even having Nicki Minaj, rapper and Ariana's long time friend, as a feature could save it.

"Sweetener" also had that part of the album that everybody ADORED. The songs produced by Max Martin were instantly named fan favorites. "Breathin", a very deep song that talks about anxiety, went number 1 on iTunes right when the album got released without even being a single, so it wasn't surprising when Ariana released a music video for the tune. 

After releasing "No Tears left To Cry" with an aesthericly pleasing video that you can watch here, "God Is A Woman", which, by the way, it's my favorite song in the whole world, and "Breathin" as singles, we thought Ari would take a break, as she wasn't feeling confident enough to go on tour; but, not even a month after releasing "Sweetener", she announced she and her team were already working on her new album, which would come not even six months later.

On November 3rd, Ari released by surprise her new single "thank u, next", which we would find out days later also was the name of the album, and broke all kinds of records. The song went straight to number 1 and the video was the most seen video in 24 hours in the history of YouTube. "thank u, next" would stay in the number 1 position until Ariana released "7 Rings", the second single from the album, which broke the records that "thank u, next" held.

Then the album came, and it was everything we wanted "Sweetener" to be: personal, fresh sounding and lyricly beatiful.

Songs like "bad idea" and "break up with your girlfriend, i'm bored", showed that Ariana still had the IT factor, while "NASA", "fake smile" and "in my head" left us impressed with Ariana's clever lyrics. And we weren't worried about her vocals, she brings them EVERYTIME, as you can listen in "imagine", where she controls whistle tones like Mariah herself, and "ghostin", a song I don't listen to cause I cry like a muffin every single time.

"thank u, next" has the best lyrics Ariana has ever sang, the best and most polished videos of her carreer, directed by Hannah Lux Davis, whose also a friend of Ariana's. This was an album that Ariana made with her friends, and you can feel it when you're listening. Some things happened to her that would make me wanna go to bed and not get out in a year, but instead, she focused on work and music, and it payed off. I don't wanna say it's Ariana's best work yet, I wanna give it time. To this day, my favorite album of her's is "Dangerous Woman" (2016). I don't know how time will affect "thank u, next", but what I'm sure of is that Ariana Grande is the best singer of our generation and the biggest superstar in the world at moment. I don't know what she'll do next to rise above herself, but I definetly know she will.