Sleazy Song Reviews #1: Ariana Grande - "thank u, next"

Hey guys and welcome back for another post! This one will be the start of another type of post I will be doing occasionally where I do reviews of songs. And for the first post, I will be sharing my thoughts on the current #1 song in the country that I have not listened to at all prior to making this post. So I'm going to listen to it and share my thoughts on it on this post as I'm listening. So yeah, let's get into it!



INTRODUCTION

"thank u, next" is the lead single from Ariana Grande's upcoming (as of this post) fifth studio album. At the time of my typing this introduction, this song is holding the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, and it holds the Spotify record for the most streams received by a song by a female artist in a single day. This surprise release apparently mentions lots of Ariana's past relationships such as Big Sean, Mac Miller, Pete Davidson, and Ricky Alvarez. Seems like a big deal, huh? Well, I'd like to listen to this song to see why, so let's do that.



REVIEW

Right away, the intro makes it sound like it will be a good song. And when I hear Ariana's vocals for the first time, I think they sound good. Those two things immediately signal a potentially good song for me, so that's good. The first verse is a little boring because it feels like the same thing for the whole time, but although not much is added from the transition from the verse to the chorus, it sounds sort of good to me. Although the chorus is a little repetitive, it feels like the good kind to me, as I sort of like the way she repeats, "thank you, next," in it. But how she says she's, "grateful for my ex," is slightly weird to me. I also don't know if I like the background vocals that come in during this time, either. But the chorus still sounds cool from the first listen.

Going into the second verse it also sounds really cool, and she sounds even better there in my opinion. It also is when I start to notice how much the production of the song is doing for me. It's not too empty, but it's not too over-the-top either, and I like that. And like a lot of songs out there, the second verse turned out to feel shorter than the first, as the chorus comes in when I didn't expect it to. But it is nice to hear that chorus again, because it is my favorite part so far. Then another thing catches my attention: when she starts saying, "thank you, next," in a different way. And while I like the first way, a change in how she does it was nice. Then it goes into the bridge, which I enjoy because it has a pretty nice vibe and flow to it. The production continues to shine, too, which does a lot to hold the song up. After that bridge, there's a quick second that puts it straight from the bridge to the chorus, which I like a lot. One thing I noticed after that was how it really sounds like the final chorus when it's going by, with the background vocals and slight increase in energy level and everything. Lots of my all-time favorite songs are like that, and I think it's cool that this song does the same. I still can't say I'm a fan of how she says the, "grateful for my ex," part, though. But the slight breakdown and fade-out at the end ends out the song and wraps everything up perfectly, and I enjoy that.

So now that I'm finished listening to the song, I am looking at the lyrics to see if there's anything interesting in there. And sure enough, there is. I like how she mentioned a lot of her exes in the first verse, which I guess proves that Wikipedia page right. But the fact that part of the first verse was actually a pretty cool pre-chorus is neat. Also, looking closer at the lyrics from the second verse, I think they're really cool. Basically, it's saying how Ariana's "increasingly positive mental state" is helping her not worry about anything, including her past relationships. I like that a lot. But that bridge though. It is lyrically very good in my opinion. I like how the first verse is about her exes, the second is about her being able to cope with everything, and the bridge is about her engagement with Pete Davidson being called off and how she can thank her parents for it or something like that. Very neat structure there. So I think I've covered everything about this song, as little as it seems there is. Let's discuss my overall thoughts before closing out the post.



OVERALL THOUGHTS

In sum, I think this song is really good! It's catchy and has some interesting lyrical themes that contribute to the great structure that is used in the song. It's definitely not Ariana's best song, but it was a really nice listen that I would go back to again. And now that I've heard it, I can definitely see why it's the #1 song in the country right now, considering how much of news Ariana's engagement and break-up were. Although I probably prefer the song that's #2 behind this, which is "SICKO MODE" by Travis Scott, this is a nice choice for #1 and I would be all for it staying there if "SICKO MODE" wasn't right behind it. But yeah, really cool song, and it makes me anxious to hear more of her album when it comes out. But we'll see shout that when the time comes. And if I had to give the song a rating out of 10, I'd give it a 9 to a 9.5.



FINAL WORDS

And that wraps up this post! I had a fun time listening to this song and sharing my thoughts on it. If you haven't heard this song yet and are curious to see what I'm talking about when sharing my thoughts, you can listen to the song on YouTube here or on Spotify here. Other than that, I have nothing else to say other than that if you want to suggest something, feel free to do so. It can be a song review, a chart review, or an album review of your choice. I will never turn anything down as I am very open to discovering new music! So yeah, you can do that if you're ever bored. But until I post again, that's it for today and I'll see you guys next time!