meta-scriptJustin Tranter On Writing For Pop's Vanguard, Ruling The Myspace Era & Remaining Fearless | GRAMMY.com
Justin Tranter On Writing For Pop's Vanguard, Ruling The Myspace Era & Remaining Fearless
Justin Tranter

Photo: Christopher Patey

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Justin Tranter On Writing For Pop's Vanguard, Ruling The Myspace Era & Remaining Fearless

Justin Tranter was taught to be courageous from childhood, which meant they were enabled in adulthood to pursue any creative pursuit they desired. Here's how Tranter balances writing for megastars with their array of other pursuits.

GRAMMYs/Aug 11, 2022 - 02:21 pm

Most songs can be placed somewhere on a spectrum between specificity and universality — between confessional detail and mass applicability. Justin Tranter has written for everyone from Ariana Grande to Måneskin to Janelle Monae; how does this GRAMMY-nominated songwriter strike that balance?

The answer partly lies, Tranter says, in the differential functions of the verse and chorus.

"The chorus should explain the whole song, and it should be universal enough that everybody would want to sing that chorus," Tranter, who uses they/them pronouns, tells GRAMMY.com. "Then, you can use the verses — and sometimes the pre-chorus — to make it a clear, specific story."

This axiom seems simple enough on paper — but when you truly absorb it, the entire songwriting canon opens up. It applies to tunes by everyone from those pop stars to singer/songwriters of yore, like John Prine or Tom Petty. Go as specific as you want in the verses; just connect them to a chorus that's emotionally available to all.

But the magic of Tranter isn't just that they have songwriting down to a science; it's that they've run headfirst into everything from publishing to activism to jewelry-making, often to smashing success. 

In this in-depth interview, learn not only about Tranter's songwriting chops, but how a sense of fearlessness made their entire multifarious life possible — from their old band, Semi Precious Weapons, onward into a possibility-stuffed future.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

You're not only a major songwriter; you're active in the label, publishing and activism spaces. Have you always wanted a career like this?

Yes, I did. I always wanted to do lots of things. Fortunately, I was born pretty fearless, and my parents let me continue to be fearless. So, when it comes to the activism side of things or when it comes to going big, I never had any fear in doing that. So, I always dreamed of this. I always imagined this.

How were you raised to be fearless? A lot of kids grow up in fear, and then they become fearful adults.

First of all, I'm very lucky that I'm the youngest of four kids. So, I think my parents had really figured out parenting by the time they got to me — and I was a really big personality from the get-go.

I was very obviously feminine and queer very early, and no one — well, not a lot of people — told me I shouldn't be that way. My parents never told me I shouldn't be that way. My oldest brother was very supportive of it. Some of my other brothers weren't as supportive of it, but between my parents and my oldest brother, [I was] really loved.

I think I was raised to be fearless because anytime I was fearless and truly myself, they really enjoyed it. At least three of the five other people in my household thought it was fabulous and commended me — when I told people they were being mean or turned the other cheek at the appropriate moments.

There was just a lot of reinforcement that: yep, you can date exactly who you want, and we're going to celebrate and applaud it. And when you're funny, we're going to laugh at it. I think all those things were there for me. Every day, I realize how lucky I am to have had that.

Getting a band off the ground is a Herculean effort for so many people — but you did it with Semi Precious Weapons. How did you make it work?

I had built a solo singer/songwriter, piano-based thing for myself in New York, and I was hosting a night — every Sunday night — at the SideWalk Cafe in the East Village. It was called Justin Tranter's Flaming Sunday, and it was a night of queer singer/songwriters.

Once a month, I would do a full set, but every week, I would do a couple of songs and then just host and introduce the other people I had booked for the night. So, I had built a little bit of a following on my own in New York. And then, when the band happened, it really blew up.

The amount of guerilla marketing that took place — everything from literally tagging things, like spray painting our gun-and-heart logo all over the city, to putting stickers and matchbooks all over the city with that logo that would have the website so people could connect the dots.

It was the Myspace era, and I was deep, deep into trying to find any way to find fans on [there] — [like] messaging kids who liked music that was similar or liked people who looked like me, because my look was so specific and so over the top.

We'd just spend hours and hours and hours on Myspace, which ended up really working for me. We got on some big people's Top 8s, which led to more exposure for the band.

Another thing that happened is that for our first show, I designed necklaces, which were the gun-and-heart logo, and the heart had a bullet hole through it. I think I made 10 of them, and people loved them so much that I was like, "Huh, maybe there's a thing here." And I worked at jewelry stores as my day job.

So, I knew how to make this happen, and I ended up selling the band jewelry at Urban Outfitters — all over the country and the world. 

This is so era-specific. Urban Outfitters and Myspace — what a time to be alive!

Every single display card the necklaces were on would talk about the band and have a link to the band's website. Then, the jewelry ended up at Barneys and had 14-carat gold and diamond versions. 

It was this whole, insane journey. We found ways from guerilla marketing to a f—ing jewelry line! And that's how people heard about the band, I guess.

None of it could have happened without that fearlessness, I'll bet.

I look back to it, and I'm like, "Starting a jewelry line is the hardest thing in the world!" And the fact it ended up at Urban Outfitters and Barneys — I was just like, "Well, why the f— shouldn't I have a jewelry line? Who's to tell me I shouldn't?" Yeah, the fearlessness really helps the whole way.

You've written for a laundry list of A-listers. Who was the first major artist you wrote for, and how did that come about?

The band's last album, we made with Tricky Stewart — an amazing producer who did "Umbrella" and "Single Ladies" and a bunch of other unbelievable songs. Including the new Beyoncé — "Break My Soul."

He said to me a couple of times, "You're a f—ing great songwriter, and yes, your band is alternative." The last [work] we made with him was in much more of an alternative side of things that it was on the glam rock thing with the early days. He was like, "You're writing pop songs, and you should look into this."

The band had a publishing deal. I asked the publisher to cut us some sessions, and I really enjoyed stepping out of myself and just focusing on the best song — not on the best song for me to perform. I was doing it for three months, and it was a whole bunch of no, no, no, nos. 

I was like: Maybe I shouldn't. Maybe this isn't for me. The band is really known for our live shows. And now that I know this side of the business, three months is nothing. That's a very short amount of time, but I finally stopped trying to chase trends that were happening. 

Because I thought that's what pop writers did: you chase the trend. And that's what some pop writers do, and they're very f—ing good at it. I just wasn't good at it.

So, I wrote a song with some people I'd met for the first time. One of them, I'm still really, really close with — a writer named Ryland Blackinton. We wrote a song I really loved ["Nostalgic"] and Kelly Clarkson recorded it, like, a week later. I'm such a huge fan of her voice that it was a very exciting thing to happen to me.

If you were to place all songs on a spectrum between ultra-specific and candid and vulnerable, and perhaps more general and one-size-fits-all, where does your work lie? Is it a balance to strike most of the time?

If the artist does write, so much of what I do is writing with them and having a conversation about where they're at. And it's casual — I'm not interviewing them, but having a conversation and finding the song in that conversation.

And then, if the artist doesn't write — or does write, but doesn't need to — sometimes they're just looking for other songs, outside songs. I still like to either talk to them or find out about their life through them, or through somebody else in their life, and find a song that's really about them.

And if they really want, I want the artists to feel like this song is theirs. And hopefully this song is going to be good and big enough that they're going to need to sing it for the next 40 years. I want them to really feel like they can own it.

So, I don't actually write about my life that much anymore. In terms of the specificity of their life — and also something the world can relate to — I always say that we should know what the whole song is about inside the chorus. The chorus should explain the whole song, and it should be universal enough that everybody would want to sing that chorus.

Then, you can use the verses — and sometimes the pre-chorus — to make it a clear, specific story, specific to the artist and what they're going through, or have been through.

So, that's kind of how I like to [do it] — the chorus is easy to understand, because it's pop music, but the verses can uncover details for listeners. After many, many listens, they finally realize what's actually underneath there.

We could talk for hours about your material for everyone from Leon Bridges to Dua Lipa to Måneskin. Could you single out a couple of songs that you feel are particularly special, or cornerstones of your artistry?

Let's see if I can pull that off. Well, because you mentioned it first, I'll talk about Leon Bridges' "Beyond." It's one of my favorite songs I've ever been a part of. We had a very short time to work. It was, like, an 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. session — very quick.

As I said to you before, I normally try to keep the conversations very casual to find where the song is, but there wasn't time. So, I just said, "Hey, I'm going to just start asking you really awkward questions right off the bat so we can find a song here quickly.

Maybe the second or third I asked him was, "Are you in love right now?" He said, "No, but I did meet someone, and I feel like there might be something there." Which then turned very quickly into the lyric: "She might just be my everything and beyond."

Julia Michaels' "Issues" — that was nominated for [a GRAMMY for] Song Of The Year. That was a really special one for me because Julia and I are so close — and what she was going through that day was very very real.

Especially when you're younger, those moments in your relationships feel like the end of the world. And as an older person, you never want to tell them it's not the end of the world, because they just think you sound old.

So, really embracing that moment with her in the studio — and being able to write that song, have that be the song that the world finally got to hear her sing, and be nominated for [a GRAMMY for] Song Of The Year is such a beautiful, beautiful thing to be part of.

Daya Talks The Magic Of Combining Words & Melodies, Her New EP The Difference & Working With The Chainsmokers

Everything We Know About Dua Lipa's New Album 'Radical Optimism'
Dua Lipa attends the BRIT Awards 2024

Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage

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Everything We Know About Dua Lipa's New Album 'Radical Optimism'

Dua Lipa could barely contain her excitement when announcing her new album, scheduled for release on May 3. GRAMMY.com rounded up everything there is to know about Dua Lipa’s upcoming era of 'Radical Optimism.'

GRAMMYs/Mar 13, 2024 - 09:56 pm

“Who wants moreeeeeee?” With that teasing caption, Dua Lipa sent her more than 88 million Instagram followers into a flurry of anticipation on March 12 as she seemingly primed for a major announcement with a slideshow of behind-the-scenes snaps.

Just one day later, the three-time GRAMMY winner  announced her hotly anticipated third album, Radical Optimism, was officially on its way — complete with a May 3 release date, first look at the cover art, a complete tracklist and more. Lipa couldn’t contain her excitement about the project, punctuating her all-caps caption with a string of more than a dozen exclamation points.

The album announcement arrives on the heels of a celebratory awards season for Lipa, who was nominated for two golden gramophones (including Song Of The Year) at the 2024 GRAMMYs for “Dance The Night” and opened the telecast with an electrifying medley of her singles “Houdini” and “Training Season.” Additionally, her disco-infused Barbie banger scored a nod for Best Original Song at the 2024 Golden Globes and three separate nominations at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards. 

Below, GRAMMY.com rounded up everything there is to know about Dua Lipa’s upcoming era of Radical Optimism.

The Pop Star Is Nearly Upstaged In Her Wet And Wild Cover Art

In her announcement, Lipa shared the cover art for her forthcoming studio set and the result is nothing short of jaw-dropping. Shot by Tyrone Lebon, the image depicts the English Albanian pop star out at sea, her dark hair slicked back as she bobs in the ocean wearing a shiny gold ensemble with matching jewelry against a sun-streaked sky. 

However, it’s entirely possible that, upon first glance, the “Dance The Night” singer isn’t the first thing fans will notice when they see the artwork. That’s because she shares the frame with a fearsome co-star: a shark glides past her in the foreground, its fin slicing ominously through the water’s surface. 

The Tracklist Announces The “End Of An Era”

Lipa’s fans, whom she notably refers to as “my loves,” may still be obsessed with her GRAMMY-winning sophomore album Future Nostalgia, but the pop star makes it clear on Radical Optimism’s tracklist that she’s ready to turn the page. 

According to the album’s watery back cover, the 11-track studio set will kick off with opener “End of an Era” before segueing into previously released singles “Houdini” and “Training Season.” Other as-yet-unheard songs on the LP include titles like “French Exit,” “Illusion,” “Falling Forever” and closing number “Happy For You.” And unless Lipa still has a few surprises up her sleeve ahead of the album’s unveiling, it appears that, for the first time in her career, there won’t be a single collaboration or guest artist featured on the tracklist.

She Thinks Radical Optimism Is “Exactly What We Need in the World”

Just one hour after dropping the cover art and tracklist, Lipa followed the reveal up with a video explaining the important meaning behind the album’s boldly cheery title. “I [can’t] wait for this to be yours,” she promised in the caption, adding a tidal wave emoji to punctuate her point. 

“You know what the world needs is, like, the idea of being endlessly happy,” the singer says in the clip. It’s like an overpowering feeling, I want it.” Later, she hints at the emotional throughline that threads through her upcoming body of work, revealing, “Every song does have that kind of, like, ‘through the struggle you kind of make it something optimistic’...Radical optimism, that’s exactly what we need in the world.”

The Singer’s 2021 GRAMMYs Acceptance Speech Inadvertently Sparked the Album’s Ethos

As it turns out, the emotional concept behind Radical Optimism was actually born during Lipa’s acceptance speech at the 2021 GRAMMYs, where she took home the trophy for Best Pop Vocal Album for Future Nostalgia

“My last GRAMMY speech, I said something just in the midst of panic,” the pop sensation says in the aforementioned video, which flashes to her grinning on the stage outside Staples Center in L.A, clutching her third golden gramophone. “One thing I’ve come to realize is how much happiness is so important,” she said at the time. 

“I felt really jaded at the end of my last album [2017’s Dua Lipa] where I felt like I only had to make sad music to feel like it mattered," she continued. "And I’m just so grateful and so honored because happiness is something that we all deserve, and that’s something that we all need in our lives.” 

Three years later, Lipa is channeling that mindset into her new music in such a bold way that she felt Radical Optimism had to be the album’s title. 

She’s Assembled A Solid Group Of Collaborators

The singer’s latest Instagram post also gave fans a peek at some of Lipa’s most trusted collaborators on Radical Optimism. “Tobias Jesso Jr. Kevin Parker. Caroline Ailin. We have Daniel L Harle,” the GRAMMY winner notes, whirling the camera around to introduce each of her producers and fellow lyricists by name before gleefully exclaiming, “We’re makin’ an album!” 

Gesso Jr, Parker, Ailin and Harle are all listed alongside Lipa in the credits of lead single “Houdini” as well as follow-up “Training Season,” so it’s a safe bet that fans will likely see their names throughout the credits when they hear Radical Optimism in full.

2024 GRAMMYs: Dua Lipa Debuts "Training Season" & Slays "Houdini" In Mesmerizing Opening Performance

2024 Oscars: Ludwig Goransson's Masterful Composition for 'Oppenheimer' Wins Best Original Score
Ludwig Göransson holds his Oscar award for Best Original Score for Oppenheimer at the 2024 Oscars in Hollywood, CA.

 Photo: John Shearer/ WireImage/ Getty Images

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2024 Oscars: Ludwig Goransson's Masterful Composition for 'Oppenheimer' Wins Best Original Score

The 'Oppenheimer' win by one of the youngest composers to ever receive the award for Best Original Score, marks a second Oscar victory for Ludwig Goransson.

GRAMMYs/Mar 11, 2024 - 03:52 am

Ludwig Göransson's captivating composition for Oppenheimer has triumphed in the Best Original Score category at the 2024 Oscars.

Göransson's victory represents his exceptional talent and innovative approach to film scoring, as one of the youngest composers to ever receive the Best Original Score Oscar. It marks his second win in the category — he took home his first Oscar in 2019 for Black Panther. Göransson's work on Oppenheimer also won at the 2024 GRAMMYs for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media (Includes Film And Television).

Göransson's work stood out among the competition, going up against the scores of American Fiction, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Poor Things. His ability to convey deep emotional narratives and complex historical contexts through his scores has established him as one of the most innovative and sought-after composers in Hollywood.

2024 Oscars: Watch Performances & Highlights

Göransson's composition for Oppenheimer serves as the heartbeat of the movie, underpinning the film's exploration of the moral complexities and monumental impact of J. Robert Oppenheimer's work on the atomic bomb. Through his music, Göransson invites audiences into the internal and external conflicts faced by the "father of the atomic bomb," providing a sonic backdrop that is as thought-provoking as it is visceral.

Read more: Watch: Ludwig Göransson Discusses His GRAMMY Win For 'Oppenheimer' At The 2024 GRAMMYs 

The award was presented by fellow GRAMMY winners, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who will star together in the Wizard of Oz big screen adaptation of the musical Wicked as Glinda and Elphaba respectively, premiering on the silver screen later this year. Speaking to the power of music to leave an indelible mark on the viewer through film, Grande said, "a great film score can leave a handprint on our hearts forever. It can ignite wonder and astonishment, make us feel sadness and longing and even transport us to new worlds." 

Göransson achieved just that. In his acceptance speech, Göransson thanked his colleagues,  and stars of the film for contributions to his distinctive vision. "Christopher Nolan, it was your idea to use a violin in the score and it allowed me to work and collaborate with my wonderful wife and acclaimed violinist, Serena Göransson," he said.

Göransson ended his speech by acknowledging his parents, "Thank you for giving me guitars and drum machines and not buying me video games." 

2024 Oscars: Billie Eilish And FINNEAS Perform A Heartrending Version Of "What Was I Made For?" From The 'Barbie' Soundtrack

2024 Oscars: Billie Eilish and FINNEAS Win Best Original Song For "What Was I Made For?" From The Motion Picture 'Barbie'
Finneas O'Connell and Billie Eilish show off their Oscar awards for Best Original Song for 'What Was I Made For?' from 'Barbie'' at the 96th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood.

Photo: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

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2024 Oscars: Billie Eilish and FINNEAS Win Best Original Song For "What Was I Made For?" From The Motion Picture 'Barbie'

The duo's win for "What Was I Made For?" [From The Motion Picture 'Barbie'] marks the second Oscar win for Billie Eilish and FINNEAS, making Eilish the youngest two-time Oscar winner ever.

GRAMMYs/Mar 11, 2024 - 02:23 am

Sibling duo Billie Eilish and FINNEAS are taking home more awards "What Was I Made For" [From The Motion Picture *Barbie*], this time at the 2024 Oscars, winning the prestigious Best Original Song award for their heartfelt ballad.

Once again, they've proven their unparalleled talent crosses effortlessly between the realms of music and film. Billie Eilish and Finneas won their first Oscar in 2022 for Best Original Song with "No Time to Die," the theme for the James Bond film of the same name.

Fittingly, the award was presented by two GRAMMY-winning musical performers, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who star as Glinda and Elphaba in the Wizard of Oz big screen adaptation of the musical Wicked, premiering on the silver screen later this year. 

2024 Oscars: Watch Performances & Highlights

Eilish, who admitted to having a nightmare the night before receiving the award, burst into laughs before thanking the Academy and Barbie director Greta Gerwig, "Thank you to Greta, where did you go? I love you. Thank you for this. I'm so grateful for this song and this movie and the way that it made me feel."

The pair contended for the award against a diverse group of nominees: Diane Warren with "The Fire Inside" from "Flamin' Hot," Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt for "I'm Just Ken" also from Barbie, Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson with "It Never Went Away" from American Symphony, and Scott George for "Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)" from Killers of the Flower Moon.

Ahead of the win, Eilish and O'Connell gave a stirring paired back performance that highlighted their power as a pair.

Read more: 2024 Oscars: Billie Eilish And FINNEAS Perform A Heartrending Version Of "What Was I Made For?" From The 'Barbie' Soundtrack

"What Was I Made For?" captivated audiences and critics alike with its poignant lyrics and emotive composition, underscoring the siblings' ability to tap into universal feelings of identity and purpose.

This Oscar win is a significant milestone for both artists, reinforcing their status as multifaceted talents capable of storytelling that resonates across different mediums. At the 2024 GRAMMYs, they had already made waves with the same song, winning Song Of The Year and Best Song Written For Visual Media.

Eilish and Finneas's journey from the music studios to the glitz of the Oscar stage is a testament to their hard work, creativity, and the deep connection they share as siblings. Their ability to collaborate and push the boundaries of music, now recognized by both the Recording Academy and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, sets a high bar for artists striving to make their mark across multiple industries.

Eilish and FINNEAS are not just a powerful duo in music but also formidable talents in film music composition. Their Oscar victory tonight is not just a win for them but a win for the incredible synergy between music and storytelling in cinema.

2024 Oscars: Watch Ryan Gosling And Mark Ronson Perform A Soaring, Hilarious Version Of "I'm Just Ken" From The 'Barbie' Soundtrack


5 Takeaways From Ariana Grande's New Album 'Eternal Sunshine'
Ariana Grande

Photo: Katia Temkin

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5 Takeaways From Ariana Grande's New Album 'Eternal Sunshine'

On her latest LP, Ariana Grande feels more self-assured than ever before — and 'eternal sunshine' details all of the life lessons and revelations that led to her most confident album yet.

GRAMMYs/Mar 8, 2024 - 09:47 pm

Ariana Grande's seventh album, eternal sunshine, begins with a single question: "How can I tell if I'm in the right relationship?"

The superstar has always been known for wearing her heart on her sleeve in her music — just look to 2018's Sweetener and especially 2019's thank you, next for a catalog of examples — and eternal sunshine is a mature evolution of that same level of transparency.

Grande's life has turned upside down since she released 2020's woozy, lovestruck Positions. She divorced husband Dalton Gomez after two years of marriage, and seemed to quickly move on to a new relationship with her Wicked co-star Ethan Slater. The huge changes created a firestorm of drama in the tabloids and across social media with fans left confused about timelines and even accusations of downright infidelity leveled against the singer.

Though she stayed largely quiet at the time, when Grande released "yes, and?" as her first new single in three years, the pop star was standing in her truth. "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," she sings on the second verse.

While cleverly positioning the project as a concept album inspired by the 2004 drama Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Grande uses the rest of eternal sunshine to add to the unapologetic statements of "yes, and?", affirming through the music that there's much more to her story than tabloid headlines and internet rumors. 

In a multitude of ways, eternal sunshine showcases immense growth on Grande's part as a pop star, musician, and songwriter — but most of all, as a human being. Below, take a look at five takeaways from Ari's most self-actualized album to date.

She's Learned That Ignorance Isn't Bliss

Grande chose not to release a second single ahead of the album's March 8 unveiling, telling fans she wanted them to experience eternal sunshine in its entirety as a full body of work. Instead, she dropped second single "we can't be friends (wait for your love)" and its accompanying music video in tandem with the LP's release, and the ethereal banger perfectly encapsulates the themes of love lost — and the pain of moving on — that tie eternal sunshine to its cinematic source material starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet.

In the "we can't be friends" video, Grande elects to have her memories of a past relationship erased, much like Joel and Clementine in the beloved Oscar winner. "I don't wanna tiptoe, but I don't want to hide/ But I don't wanna feed this monstrous fire/ Just wanna let this story die/ And I'll be alright," she intones on the opening verse. 

However, by video's end, she, too, learns that it's better to live with the memories (and boundaries!) than to forget the love ever existed. 

Grande explores the same theme even more acutely on the album's title track, directly referencing the plot of the film as she tries "to wipe my mind/ Just so I feel less insane." (Though unlike Joel and Clementine's story, the pop star and her ex have both clearly moved on, as evidenced by the eyebrow-raising refrain: "Hope you feel alright when you're in her/ I found a good boy and he's on my side/ You're just my eternal sunshine, sunshine.")

Glinda The Good Witch Has Transformed Her

In numerous interviews ahead of the album's release, Grande spoke at length about the ways playing Glinda in the upcoming Wicked movies impacted her internally, recentered her priorities and healed her relationship with music. She had been adamant about not releasing new music while spending all her energy in the Good Witch of the North's magic bubble, but the impact the character's assured and confident nature had on her is evident throughout the entire body of work.

"Something that Glinda has is this very sure sense of self," Grande said in late February on The Zach Sang Show. "And she's not very apologetic. She's very good, she's very kind, but she's very certain. She takes up a lot of space unapologetically. And I think I, maybe before knowing Glinda and spending a lot of time with her, would cram myself into tiny little spaces and be kind of apologetic about what I come with and who I am." 

That same unapologetic kindness runs through virtually every song on the album, from the self-assured confidence of "yes, and?" to the disco-tinged heartbreak fantasia of "bye."

She's Just Fine Being Labeled The Villain

Being a concept album, eternal sunshine allows Grande to inhabit new roles and toy with perceptions of her pop star persona, and nowhere is that more evident than on "true story" and "the boy is mine," a one-two punch filled with '90s-inflected R&B and lyrical sass.

"I'll play the bad girl if you need me to…and I'll be good in it too," she pronounces on the former, clapping back at the media narrative swirling around the timeline of her split and new relationship with Wicked costar Ethan Slater. On the latter, as its title suggests, Grande taps into the feisty vibe of Brandy and Monica's 1998 smash while making it crystal clear she isn't competing with anyone for her new love's affections. 

Taken together, the two tracks affirm that Ari really is feeling more resolute in her truth than ever — regardless of what the masses have to say or what other narratives may be running rampant. 

She Remains A Master Of Vocal Production

Whether she's layering harmonies over a melody line or vocal arranging an entire bridge on the fly, the superstar's mastery over her instrument only continues to grow with each new album — evolving from a singer with a once-in-a-generation voice into a powerhouse who can ably execute her own vision from behind the mic.

eternal sunshine proves that point again and again, from the sumptuous extended whistle tone intro on "yes, and?" and the transcendence of the floating harmonies on "don't wanna break up again" to the ways she punctuates her dreamy, staccato vocal delivery on "i wish i hated you."

She Knows Love Is "Imperfect"

After making peace with the end of her marriage, Grande spends the tail end of eternal sunshine giving listeners valuable insight into where her head is at these days, relationship with Slater included. She addresses the unexpected start to this new love story head-on in the off-kilter melody of "imperfect for you" as she coos, "My love, they don't understand/ But I'll hold your heart in the box here beside me/ How could we know we'd arrange all the cosmos?/ We crashed and we burned/ Now I just can't go where you don't go."

And by the album's end, she finally finds the answer she's been searching for since the first track — in a nugget of wisdom from her beloved Nonna, who serves as the only guest credited on the album's 13-song tracklist. "Never go to bed without kissin' goodnight, it's the worst thing to do, don't ever, ever do that," the Italian matriarch advises. "And if you can't and if you don't feel comfortable doing it, you're in the wrong place, get out."

Not only does Nonna's advice wrap eternal sunshine up in a bow, it also speaks to the hard-earned lessons Ari has learned over the past few years — but also that she's come out on the other side stronger, wiser and more unapologetic than ever.

Ariana Grande's Musical Growth In 15 Tracks, From "The Way" To "Positions"