Every Ariana Grande Album Ranked From Worst To Best
Before Petal arrives, we revisit the records that transformed Ariana Grande from Nickelodeon star into one of pop's defining artists.
Admittedly, it’s been quite a wild ride being an Ariana Grande fan since her first appearance on Nickelodeon’s Victorious back in 2010. An avid fan from tween into my teens, I vividly remember pinning my hair up in the best half-up half-down I could manage to watch her live performance on the Today Show the morning before school on the day her debut record was released. I remember begging my mom to buy me the white floral dress and black pleather skater skirt with gold embiroidered hearts she wore once from Forever21, replicating her cat-eye liner and desperately searching for a dupe to her teddy bear phone case.
I wasn’t alone in my attempts to emulate Ariana Grande. In fact, more than any other pop star of the past decade, Grande’s aesthetic has been infamously copied to the extent she had (and continues to have) multiple impersonators whose style modifies in tandem with the star. From the half-up hairdo and retro style dresses to the high pony and platform pleasers, Ariana’s appearance has shifted significantly with each new release. Her upcoming record, Petal, sees the star at her most nondescript, with soft makeup and a delicate chocolate brown do, now noticeably down, plastered across the album's cover.
Given her shifting appearance has had a tendency to visually emulate the sound of her records, Grande’s more delicate demeanor and toned down image for her newest era is interesting to note. With Petal set to be released at the end of the month and only one single released thus far (‘hate that i made you love me’), it feels like an opportune time to return to my tween style icon and to do a deep dive back in Grande’s discography.
7) Yours Truly (2013)
It’s very rare for a debut to be an artist's best work, and Yours Truly certainly follows that tradition. Released the summer Grande turned 20 years old, her first record, especially in comparison to her later work, sounds her age. Far less bubblegum pop than her first 2011 single, ‘Put Your Hearts Up,’ which the singer now notoriously and publicly disavows, Yours Truly is a hodgepodge of 90s hip-hop and R&B influences, old Hollywood nostalgia, and doo-wop sounds that initially set Grande apart from her pop contemporaries as a wholesome alternative.
The record’s success lies in its throwback and more vintage sounds and stylings, faltering when popular modern sounds of the era are shoehorned in - I’m thinking specifically of the EDM jumpscare halfway into the closing track, ‘Better Left Unsaid.’ Old Hollywood-inspired tracks like ‘Honeymoon Avenue’ and ‘Daydreamin’’ are the bright spots of the record, albeit sonically quite safe, even for the mainstream pop sphere.
Despite the record itself being more or less a mixed bag, its shining moments are certainly its singles. ‘The Way,’ featuring a playful verse from rapper Mac Miller, fuses giddy pop with 90s R&B, sampling Brenda Russel’s ‘A Little Bit Of Love’ & Big Pun’s ‘Still Not A Player’ to become Grande’s first big commercial success that continues to sound as refreshingly wistful as it first did in 2013. ‘Baby I’ has a glow of 90s hip-hop nostalgia full of punchy horn riffs and a sheer joyous, playful energy that sparked Mariah Carey comparisons.
But outside of a few tracks here and there, Yours Truly isn’t a record you’d revisit regularly. More than anything, it was a showcase of a young Grande’s palpable energy and impressive vocal range that gave life to even the more uninspired tracks on the record.
6) My Everything (2014)
Released a year after Yours Truly, My Everything feels very of its time. From its lead single featuring Iggy Azalea (‘Problem’) to the Zedd-produced ‘Break Free,’ the record sounds like the equivalent of walking through a packed shopping mall as a teenager in the mid-2010s. This was the infamous era before she started to properly enunciate (‘Break Free’ is probably the biggest victim), where cat ears became a staple in her wardrobe, and the half-up half-down became her signature style, or, more accurately, where Grande truly cemented herself as a fixture in pop music.
My Everything sounds leaps and bounds more mature than her debut, with better production and stronger songwriting that may feel its age, but remains undeniably enjoyable. Even the cast of features on the record are more definitively grown up, with Big Sean, Childish Gambino, Cashmere Cat, The Weeknd, and A$AP Ferg appearing throughout. Where Yours Truly maintained a coy innocence palatable for a 20-year-old’s first record, My Everything was more direct in reference to its sensuality that felt not only appropriate but refreshing for a pop star transitioning into her early 20s - and something she would truly hone to her advantage with Dangerous Woman.
Featuring a plethora of Grande’s most successful songs to date, which makes sense considering Max Martin, Ryan Tedder, and David Guetta’s involvement, My Everything is the record where Grande really starts to come into her own as a musician, less in distinctive sound and more in her impressive four-octave range. Her vocal riffs, runs, and belts on tracks like ‘Love Me Harder,’ ‘Only 1,’ and ‘Why Try’ are undeniably excellent, despite the lack of identity the record as a whole demonstrates. While by no means is My Everything an underwhelming or unmemorable record, it remains generic in its songwriting and pop production, despite its high-energy, more mature sound for the star. To put it plainly, Ariana improved the tracks by being on them, but it would be unsurprising if they were never created by and/or for her initially.
5) Dangerous Woman (2016)
If Grande wanted to ditch her more innocent image with My Everything, the donut-licking incident of 2015 certainly helped, with the release of 2016’s Dangerous Woman the final nail in the child-star coffin. Now 22, the cat ears and mini skirts were abandoned for her now-famous high ponytail, thick eyeliner, and a highly-debated tan. Her most cohesive record up to this point, Dangerous Woman marked Grande’s transition into adulthood in the public eye, coyly exploring female desire, sexuality, and independence with a newfound confiendence and tact for refinement unseen from the pop star prior.
Where Dangerous Woman really shines is in its first half. With tracks like the steamrolling title track, to 90s house-inspired banger, ‘Be Alright,’ to what I consider one of the greatest pop songs of all time, the enormously lush and seductive ‘Into You.’ It’s when you get to the lackluster Lil Wayne verse on ‘Let Me Love You’ where things start to mellow. In between the more forgettable tracks are still a selection of grandiose, playful yet sophisticated pop tunes with ‘Touch It,’ ‘Knew Better/Forever Boy,’ and ‘Jason’s Song (Gave It Away)’ being some of my personal favorites.
Dangerous Woman is where Grande began making substantial strides towards becoming a full fledged pop star, more so in person than in artistic approach. While more exploratory in genre and navigation of sound, the record ironically remains on the cusp of safety.
4 ) Positions (2020)
Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but Positions shines with a self-assured confidence that her albums prior to sweetener lack. Revolving around themes of relationship bliss, Positions is much more low-key in tone and yet arguably her most cohesive record to date - thanks in large part to the glossy strings that accompany each and every song on the album.
As a follow-up to thank u, next, I understand why people felt rather underwhelmed by the release. However, considering it is a record about navigating the giddiness of falling in love and the apprehension of it, Positions shines in its beautifully understated approach and masterful use of layering vocal harmonies. The opening track, ‘shut up’ or ‘my hair’ is what immediately comes to mind. Grande abandons her penchant for belting for a high-octave whistle in the latter, showcasing impeccable control over her already highly impressive range.
Grande’s voice is kept at a breathy lower range previously underexplored for the pop star, with most tracks largely sleek and spacey, carefully garnished with silky harmonies, orchestral strings, or the occasional synth. While certainly her most understated, Positions offers a new dimension to Grande’s repertoire of talents and vocal abilities. It is simply mesmerising to hear what she can do with a technique as simple as layering vocal harmonies, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it were to resonate more with people the older it gets.
3) eternal sunshine (2024)
Her latest album and longest wait inbetween records, eternal sunshine is one of Grande’s most emotionally transparent releases that takes a nuanced approach when reflecting on the collapse of her marriage and into the hopeful start of a new relationship.
Full of sharp melodies with tracks like ‘supernatural,’ mid-paced smooth celestial grooves with ‘eternal sunshine,’ and melancholic punchy production reminiceint of Robyn on ‘we can’t be friends (wait for your love),’ Grande’s return after four years was a sumptuous yet restrained return that makes peace with love and loss in a manner most mature for the star thus far - as clear on tracks like ‘i wish i hated you.’
While the interpolation of Brandy and Monica’s ‘The Boy Is Mine’ falters in comparison to the original and ‘Saturn Returns Interlude’ feels self-indulgent more than revelatory, eternal sunshine remains a strong addition to her discography despite its scatteredness at times.
2) sweetener (2018)
A personal favourite of mine and neck and neck for the number one spot, sweetener is sonically Grande’s most interesting album, thanks in part to Pharrell jumping on as a producer. Created shortly after the Manchester terrorist bombings that took place during her 2017 Dangerous Woman tour, Grande harnessed her very public trauma, abandoning romance for an exploration into more personal themes concerning turmoil, anxiety, and resilience.
From putting her own spin on a 2000s R&B track initially meant for Beyoncé (‘R.E.M.’) to sampling anything from the Four Seasons’ ‘An Angel Cried’ on its opener to a 2009 town hall meeting on ‘the light is coming,’ sweetener was where Grande first began to broaden her sound and sonically come into her own. It was the first album that felt like an Ariana Grande Album, not simply another good pop record. This too was the era that the infamous “yuh” was firmly established in the Grande canon in songs like the dreamy, defiant ‘god is a woman.’
If messy or discombobulated at times, sweetener’s biggest crime is being different. A joyously hopeful and simply fun record, Grande transformed her pain into a spirited collection of tracks that were as refreshing as they were memorable. It’s certainly hard to pick a favorite with such a stacked tracklist; her luminous reworking of Imogen Heap’s ‘Goodnight n’ Go’ is certainly a contender for one of my favorite Ariana songs of all time.
1) thank u, next (2019)
Naturally, the cultural phenomenon that was thank u, next is undeniably Grande’s best work. Coming out of her whirlwind romance with Pete Davidson, untimely death of former partner Mac Miller, and recent release of sweetener, thank u, next was surprising not only in its unexpected surprise release, but also in its timing. Recorded and released within the five months since sweetener released, thank u, next packed an unsuspecting punch with its first titular single, where Grande boldly and casually namedrops her exes. This was truly the moment that she became a fully fledged pop star in persona and sound.
Fast-paced and trap-infused with the flow of The Sound of Music’s ‘My Favorite Things,’ ‘7 rings’ gave us the closest we will get to hearing Ariana Grande rap; instantly becoming a staple in a drag queen’s repertoire. From the beginning of the record to its very end, thank u, next showcases the nuance inherent in humanity - from the delicately weary and raw ‘needy’ to the introspective emotional centerpiece ‘ghostin’’ only to end with the blatant and morally ambiguous ‘break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored.’
Despite its quick turnaround and surprise release, thank u, next became Grande’s most pivotal record, the era defining the public’s perception of who she is, and will most likely be remembered as, when it comes to her pop star persona. It is rather bittersweet that her greatest work coincided with Grande’s highly publicized personal tragedy and trauma. I suppose it gives credence to the popularizied and highly debated notion that great art comes out of great suffering. However, I believe it is more of a testament to the healing power of all facets of music making. We are more so lucky enough that Grande chose to share her manner of healing with the rest of the world and that she remains a fixture in the pop sphere.