Ariana Grande - Petal Review
Represented by the image of a petal growing out of the cracks in the pavement, Ariana Grande’s eighth studio album, naturally dubbed petal, is an eerie embrace of unfiltered rage immersed in a haunting sonic scenery of gloomy synths, shimmery lower-register harmonies, and delicate, distorted electronic textures.
Fresh off the Wicked press tour and amidst her eternal sunshine tour, Grande’s latest album, petal, sees the pop star at her most unfiltered in her assailment of fame and its toxicity, directing her anger calmly and confidently toward intrusive fans, the media, and her exes. This is most glaring on the title track and the album’s second single, where Grande lyrically rakes the media and its critics over the coals. Atop a morose, moody production with ghostly carousel-esque pangs and bleary percussion beats, Grande softly lilts on the public’s scrutiny of her (‘Tell me who’s to blame/Is it the people or myself’) before boldly standing her ground: “But I don’t need someone to save me/Cause this music and I will never die”
Whether banishing her exes to perdition on the floaty ‘oh well’ (“Good luck on your way to hell”) explicitly embracing her sexuality on tracks like ‘big feelings’ (“Pussy so sweet a tear fell from his eye”) or ‘like i do’ (“You need me like I, you/Cause no-one fucks you like I do”), petal is full of similar disarmingly blunt lyricism unexpected to hear from Grande; who is usually more tongue-in-cheek about sex and sexuality (a la ‘34+35’). The outlier of the more subdued, low-tempo tracks is by far ‘bad thing (bunny hop),’ its blending of shiny, cinematic pop, punchy drums, and alternative R&B production are sonically reminiscent of frequent collaborator, The Weeknd. Immersed in the sounds and styles of longtime inspiration, Imogen Heap, the album's closer is by far one of the strongest tracks on the record. Featuring a chorus of vocoded accapella stacked vocals and airy harmonies, ‘nowhere, nobody’ is a subdued daydream of a track that is easily the most romantic song on the album as Grande reassures her lover: “Deep breaths, honey/There’s no more running/And there’s nowhere, with nobody else that I’d rather be.”
A minor-key melange of sounds with a dark edge unusual for the pop star known most for her giant pop production and distinctive belts, petal is a medley of leisurely synth-pop and R&B tracks interesting enough to prompt a re-listen. There are catchy moments and earworms of choruses, but the album as a whole contains a feeling that’s hard to shake of misapprehension, specifically concerning Grande's angle on current criticisms. Despite the record’s clear intent regarding the star’s relationship with fame and the media, the messaging falls flat when the public discourse as of late is more laced with concern over her health than anything to do with music-based criticisms or personal lovelife attacks. The closer she gets in age and appearance to the late great Karen Carpenter, the discourse surrounding Grande has shifted in response when her image becomes too great to ignore - reactions to the recently released music video for ‘petal’ are a clear case in point.
While it may be refreshing to hear Grande at her most candid when lambasting intrusive criticisms, villifying media, and past lovers, petal misses its mark in spite of its clear intentions. The jabs at exes (“I’ve been busy keeping your girl inspired” on ‘like i do’) and vented anger toward naysayers (“But i’m not a victim bitch/Practically drowning in my blessings” on ‘petal’) feel trite more than scathing. Where name-dropping her exes worked on ‘thank u, next,’ petal lacks the pop cultural context that made those lines work in a way that enabled her to commendear the public narrative. When most contemporary discourse surrounding the pop star is less about the music and more about her health, petal’s attempt at mimicking a similar sense of petty catharsis feels more as if she’s trying to convince us and herself rather than proclaiming a lesser known truth.
The real shame of petal has less to do with its genuinely interesting, darker and gloomier production, and more to do with its lack of perspective. While there may be a handful of tracks that would’ve benefited from, if not a belt, a higher octave change in the vein of Positions, her measured vocal neutrality can be embraced as an appreciated artistic choice where the lack of stakes in the thematic crafting of the record remains hard to ignore - especially when Grande has dissected similar subject matter far better and with greater nuance on thank u, next and sweetener. Albeit, petal remains a noteworthy addition to Grande’s discography, seeing the star make strides in her expansion of sound and explicit lyrical transparency regardless of the record’s retreading of familiar territory.