ARIANA GRANDE - ETERNAL SUNSHINE
Verdict: Another bright spot for the pop superstar.
What’s the story?
Eternal Sunshine is the seventh studio album by American singer Ariana Grande. It is a pop and R&B album with dance music influences, particularly synth-pop and house, characterised by mid-tempo synthesisers, subtle guitar and string elements. Grande derived the album title from the 2004 romance film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and conceived the album inspired by her personal life experiences.
Worth a listen?
Mostly a response to the headline-grabbing details of her relationships, the album takes listeners through the dissolution of one union (which ended in divorce) and the slow healing that was aided along by the sparks of another (which generated controversy too). The bulk of the lyrics are a direct reference to the drama, with Grande taking the high road with poise and class, while leaning into any negative perceptions with a wink and some sass. Those tabloid-fodder moments (like ‘The Boy Is Mine’ and ‘True Story’) add some fuel to the flames; however, Grande makes a concerted effort to maintain focus on personal growth through introspection on tracks like ‘I Wish I Hated You’ and ‘Don’t Wanna Break Up Again’.
NORAH JONES - VISIONS
Norah Jones named her eighth proper studio set Visions because many of the musical ideas occurred to her in the middle of the night, right when her consciousness was hazy: they weren’t fully realised so much as an apparition. That sense of dreaminess carries through to the finished product as it glides between modulated soul jams, languid ballads and hopeful pop tunes, each enlivened by flair that’s felt more than heard.
JENNIFER LOPEZ - THIS IS ME…NOW
A sequel two decades in the making, This Is Me…Now finds Jennifer Lopez returning to the territory she first explored on This Is Me…Then: namely, grappling with the strong emotions generated by her relationship with Ben Affleck. Lopez wrote and recorded This Is Me…Then while in the throes of her romance with the actor, releasing the album in November 2002 at what turned out to be roughly the midpoint of their initial union. By early 2004, their engagement was severed. The next two decades were filled with high-profile love affairs by both parties – they each started families with subsequent spouses – but the pair reconnected in 2021, leading to marriage in July 2022. This Is Me…Now chronicles this rekindling, and in no small way: the record is accompanied by a full-length film featuring a music video for each of the album’s 13 songs, plus there’s a documentary called ‘The Greatest Love Story Never Told,’ which borrows its name from a series of love letters written by Affleck to Lopez.
MGMT - LOSS OF LIFE
Their fifth studio album, Loss of Life, finds MGMT regaining their balance and evenly distributing the strange and the accessible across a set of songs that explore alien interpretations of soft rock, synth pop epics and the kind of psychedelic wonderment that has long been the centre of the band’s craft. Loss of Life is restrained for MGMT’s track record, still managing to express personality and abstract thinking (musical and lyrical) while keeping huge melodies in the forefront. It’s not a return to form, a return to pop, or really a return of any kind, just a continuation of the band’s blissfully weird frames of mind and a record that includes some of their strongest songs in years.
