I. Flores

 

If you’re looking for an album that allows you to feel all the phases of love and heartbreak, eternal sunshine by Ariana Grande is the one you’re looking for. After four years of musical hiatus, the artist comes back with her seventh album of her career. Making reference to the movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, this work talks about the nostalgia of ending a relationship and the expectations of starting a new one. Just like the singer, eternal sunshine is a short album, but very vulnerable, being able to transmit the intended message in just 35 minutes. 

 

The opening track is “intro (end of the world)” and it introduces the album with Grande questioning her relationship with “how can I tell if I’m in the right relationship?” and “if the sun refused to shine, baby, would I still be your lover? Would you want me there?” These questions are later answered in the closing track “ordinary things”.

 

In the second track “bye” she sings about both the positive and negative things about ending her relationship. When Grande sings “this ain't the first time I've been hostage to these tears” and “you know? I'm stronger than I think”, she is referencing the past moments of her life where she has experienced pain and vulnerability, but has learned to persevere through this. The singer has stated that this was the hardest song to write because she didn’t want it to sound angry with the situation, but for it to represent the self-awareness that she felt once she knew she had to leave her partner, even though they both tried to fix their problems.

 

Complementing the above, the third track “don’t wanna break up again” expresses the pain that Ariana and her partner were causing to each other; however, she desires to stay together. In an interview, the artist mentioned that she likes that the feelings in the second and third songs are layered and complicated, because they are what comes along with loving and leaving someone, as it is part of the human experience.

 

“Saturn Returns Interlude” is a spoken track that talks about the Saturn return, sometimes called the astrological coming of age, that happens around every 29.5 years, where the planet returns to its original position that it was in the sky at the same time of a person’s birth, making this a process of self-reflection about past decisions and a transition to a more mature version of themselves. The song finishes with “wake up, get real” which Grande has explained is the wake-up call one gets, and the next song, “eternal sunshine”, is the waking up. This fifth track expresses her desire to forget her relationship so she can avoid the pain. Ariana has said that this song fell into place as she realised that the movie in which she got inspired, and the whole identity of the album, intertwined with each other to create the narrative of it.

 

The sixth track “supernatural” details the feeling of being inseparable from a person, this one person taking completely her state of mind, and her not minding at all. The song suggests that an exterior power is pulling them together. In the next track “true story”, Grande sings about her relationship with the media and the people who create lies about her, she acknowledges the games that the people play and the rumour of her being a villain “for fun, you like to pray for my demise, but I'll play whatever part you need me to, and I'll be good in it, too”.

 

Grande said that the next song “the boy is mine” and “true story” work as track sisters, because it portrays the problematic image that the media has of her that was mentioned in the previous song. “the boy is mine” is inspired by the 90’s hit by Brandy and Monica of the same title, which later the three artists created a remix of both songs in June of 2024. After this, the ninth and lead single of the album begins, “yes, and?” is a song that responds to the rumours made about Grande of her past and new relationships, but she dismisses them by saying “now, I'm so done with caring, what you think, no, I won't hide underneath your own projections or change my most authentic life”.

 

The second single and tenth track, “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” was created with the intention for everyone to relate to it and for it to be for who you want it to be. The song talks about a worn-out relationship in which its members can’t be friends, even though one of them would rather pretend. This single is mainly focused on portraying such a painful breakup that the person would rather erase all the memories from their mind, which is a nod to the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  

 

My personal favorite, “i wish i hated you”, explores the complexity of a relationship accompanied by the soft voice of Grande and the slow melody, we can feel the longing and emotional conflict that the singer was going through with the lyric “and no matter how easy things could be if I did, and no matter how guilty I still feel saying it, I wish I hated you”. The song shows that love doesn’t always follow a linear path by finding the balance between strength and vulnerability.

 

Finally, the closing track “ordinary things” exposes how fragile a relationship can be, as well as expressing how complicated it can be to find beauty in the ordinary. The song finishes with a message from Grande’s grandmother, Nonna, which was recorded when she was having a conversation with one of her friends. While listening to the voice note, the artist realized that her question from “intro (end of the world)” had been answered, because you know you’re in the right relationship when you focus on the little things: “never go to bed without kissing goodnight (...) and if you don't feel comfortable doing it, you're in the wrong place.”

 

Definitely, eternal sunshine is an emotional journey about growing up, letting go, and accepting the mistakes we made in the past, which makes it perfect to listen to when someone wants to feel understood during an emotional conflict. This is accompanied by the soft voice of Ariana Grande and the use of slow and dreamy melodies that let us feel the vulnerability of this album. This is not just a piece of songs put together, it is a diary of the never-ending process of healing through love.