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Tag: Ariana Grande Eternal Sunshine

  • With “Bittersweet,” Madison Beer Is No Longer Saying “Yes Baby”

    On the heels of releasing a sexed-up, ultra workout-friendly (especially when taking into account the accompanying video) single called “Yes Baby,” Madison Beer has now offered a sharp contrast to that vibe in the form “Bittersweet.” With such a title, it should come as no shock that it’s a post-breakup track, and one that finds Beer at her most “Ariana Grande-esque,” lyrically speaking. Indeed, “Bittersweet” smacks of the sort of song one might find on Eternal Sunshine (or Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead) as Beer reflects on being both angry at the person who let her go (or perhaps forced her to let him go) as well as sad over losing the relationship—such a conundrum being well-trodden by Grande on songs like “eternal sunshine” and “twilight zone.”

    In the lyric video that goes with the single (shot by Fio Karpenko), a dreamy and dissociated-looking Beer continues to either stare off into the distance or run her hands through her hair as the lyrics to the song appear on either side of the center where she stands (though the viewer is only able to see her from a chest-up perspective). Printed in cursive, the effect lends an “old-timey” quality (especially since most Gen Zers weren’t taught cursive) that almost gives the effect that the words are meant to read like a bona fide breakup letter (a “Dear John” one, if you will). The go-to option at a certain point (mainly, WWII) in the twentieth century before that gave way not only to a breakup Post-It (à la Jack Berger’s [Ron Livingston] infamous “I’m Sorry I Can’t Don’t Hate Me—” kiss-off), but, maybe even worse still, flat-out ghosting without even the thought of writing any form of “apology” at all.

    However Beer’s breakup might have happened within the universe of this song, it’s apparent she’s still in shock over the loss, opening with the, that’s right, bittersweet verse, “Can’t believe it ends this way/Thought you’d always stay/Now I gotta wonder what I’ve changed/Think I have to go/Walking all alone/Hate to see it all go down the drain/Wanted to be with you/Wanted to make it through/But did you?/I swear I knew.” And what she knew, in her heart of hearts, was that it was over. Even if trying to “soldier on” for the sake of, who knows, something like “sentimentality.” Not only that, but having invested so much time and effort into something that ultimately won’t yield a “return.” Such a result prompting the likes of Taylor Swift to seethe, “And I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free.”

    Beer, still just twenty-six, is slightly less bitter about the failed relationship. Even if she says she’s “bittersweet”—with one definition of that term being, “arousing pleasure tinged with sadness or pain.” The “pleasure” arising from letting go of a dynamic that she knows isn’t good for her. As Beer put it to Rolling Stone, “‘Bittersweet’ is about the end of a chapter and the difficulty of coming to terms with it, while also recognizing that deep down you know it’s for the best—and finding peace in that along the journey.”

    The song starts out “airily,” with minimal instrumentation until the beat, co-produced by One Love and Beer, drops around the thirty-nine-second mark, prompting Beer to delicately deliver the simultaneously vexed and depressed chorus, “Now that it’s over, you’ll blame it all on me/I know I should be bitter, but, baby/Right now I’m bittersweet/I’m getting over what you put me through/And I’d say I’m done crying, but, baby/I don’t lie like you do.” Here, too, the Grande of Eternal Sunshine flickers in, particularly on the title track when she sings, “I don’t care what people say/We both know I couldn’t change you/I guess you could say the same/Can’t rearrange truth/I’ve never seen someone lie like you do/So much, even you start to think it’s true.”

    That “Ariana-ness” of it all is then further compounded by Beer layering on some “oooh’s” and “hmmm’s” into it after the first recitation of the chorus. She then proceeds to give greater insight into the definition of “bittersweet” by adding, “One day I’ll wake up sad/But go to bed so glad/Knowing you know what you could have had.” So it is that Beer’s bittersweetness (a phrase that makes it seem like one is talking about beer the drink, but no) is tinged with more than a slight desire for revenge—or rather, “Miss Karma just doing her thing.”

    In the meantime, Beer will have to take comfort in the revelation, “Now I’m choosing me/It wasn’t so easy/God forbid forever on my knees” (which, yes, also feels like a blow job reference more than it does speaking on how “reverential” and “obsequious” Beer has been up until now). Beer can also take comfort in reconciling with her enduring conflicting emotions about the relationship and its end. Something that has led her to paint the picture, “I lay awake thinking, ‘How did I let you go?’/Getting away unscathed for so damn long/I got away, took my time/I’m okay alone/And you’ll stay knowing/You’ll forever know how hard I tried/With you.” But, in truth, whoever her ex may be, it’s more than likely he has no idea how hard she tried, nor does he probably care. This being just part of why it’s never been chicer to not have a boyfriend.

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • The Week of Laying to Rest a Feud Remixes: “The Boy Is Mine” and “Girl, so confusing”

    The Week of Laying to Rest a Feud Remixes: “The Boy Is Mine” and “Girl, so confusing”

    In what is perhaps a “sign o’ the times” for the world of pop, the week in music has offered an overarching theme that centers on “laying to rest feuds.” Or, as Junior LaBeija would put it, “Category is: ‘laying to rest feuds.’” Ariana Grande and Charli XCX are weirdly in sync about this topic, for both pop stars have seen fit to put out remixes that are decidedly “bury the hatchet”-chic. In Grande’s case, the “burial” comes in the form of a remix of her latest single, “the boy is mine,” and in Charli’s, it’s another arbitrary remix (like “360” featuring Robyn and Yung Lean) from Brat: “Girl, so confusing.” The latter features Lorde, one of the public figures that Charli was speculated to be singing about on the track (the other was MARINA). 

    Indeed, Brat is an album all about trying to tame the green-eyed monster (hence Charli coming up with the shade that will henceforth be called “Brat green”)…or at least subdue it slightly into submission. And even Taylor Swift appears to be a source of inspiration for Charli’s insecurity flare-ups, as evidenced by another song on the record, “Sympathy is a knife.” On this particular track, XCX confesses, “I don’t wanna share the space/I don’t wanna force a smile/This one girl taps my insecurities/Don’t know if it’s real or if I’m spiraling.” Or if the media is a key force in fueling these types of anxieties. After all, Brandy and Monica represented one of the earliest modern examples (following Madonna and Cyndi Lauper—though there wasn’t ultimately much of a comparison there) of how various outlets relish reporting on so-called rivalries between two “similar” female artists. In the wake of Brandy and Monica, there would be Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez and Mariah Carey (though that’s still a pretty real feud…for Mariah), Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry (fueled by Taylor herself), Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter—and many others in between. Including, of course, Charli XCX and Lorde. 

    While the two have never shared an outright feud in the same way as Brandy and Monica, who were more openly pitted against one another during a time when there was hardly as much space for Black female musicians to thrive (not that there’s all that much now either), there was always a little bit of resentment there. More openly on Charli’s part perhaps…particularly as she was the one who had to deal with being mistaken for Lorde during the Pure Heroine era despite having been in the music game long before the New Zealander traipsed into town (so to speak) with the automatic hit that was 2013’s “Royals.” So it is that Charli pulls no punches when she admits on the song, “Yeah, I don’t know if you like me/Sometimes I think you might hate me/Sometimes I think I might hate you/Maybe you just wanna be me/You always say, ‘Let’s go out’/So we go eat at a restaurant/Sometimes it feels a bit awkward/‘Cause we don’t have much in common.” Save for the crippling sense of self-doubt that even the most successful of women can’t seem to shake. 

    In the revamped version of the song, Lorde responds to these specific lyrics with, “You’d always say, ‘Let’s go out’/But then I’d cancel last minute/I was so lost in my head/And scared to be in your pictures/‘Cause for the last couple years I’ve been at war in my body/I tried to starve myself thinner/And then I gained all the weight back/I was trapped in the hatred/And your life seemed so awesome/I never thought for a second/My voice was in your head.”

    This deeply personal addition to the song layers it with the exact message Charli was talking about when she told The Guardian, “Relationships between women are super-complex… You can like someone and dislike them at the same time; you can have the best time of your life on a night out with someone but not be that close to them at all.” Lorde has fallen into the former category for XCX, mainly as a result of the Brat green-eyed monster affecting her feelings toward the fellow acclaimed singer. Ironically enough, though, in the same interview, Charli insists that female rivalry in the entertainment industry has died down compared to previous decades, remarking, “We’ve got past the point of the media always pitting women against one another. In the mid to late 00s, it literally sold magazines and papers: ‘Britney versus Christina,’ ‘Paris versus Lindsay.’ Then feminism became a popular marketing tool. In the music industry, it was distilled into this idea that if you support women, and you like other women, then you’re a good feminist. The reverse of that is, if you don’t like all other women who exist and breathe on this Earth then you’re a bad feminist. If you’re not a girl’s girl then you’re a bad woman.” And, speaking of that phrase, “girl’s girl,” it was weaponized against Ariana Grande in the aftermath of her “homewrecker” scandal. Specifically, when Ethan Slater’s ex-wife, Lilly Jay, called out Grande for not being a “girl’s girl.” Because “girl’s girls” don’t allow themselves to fall into the trap of being “the other woman.” They instead choose to “walk away”—or simply get the dude in question to actually leave his wife.

    Maybe that’s why Grande is quite deliberate in having Monica tout the line, “Well, he better sort out his business, ‘cause I’ll never be nobody’s mistress.” A lyric that also shows how far Brandy and Monica have come since their teen years when they were singing this song. This declaration is also one that “absolves” Grande of being a homewrecker in the rawer sense of the word. Instead, she falls more into the category of the scenario described by Olivia Rodrigo on “traitor” when ripping into the bloke that left her, “It took you two weeks/To go off and date her/Guess you didn’t cheat/But you’re still a traitor.”

    This sense of feeling stabbed in the back by the woman who “took” her man (in lieu of blaming the man himself for his shady actions) only adding to the overall sense of competitiveness between women. Rightfully convinced of the scarcity of men to “possess” (that is, in terms of the somewhat straight ones who are non-bald and non-short…Grande didn’t quite care about the latter description when it came to pursuing Slater). So on the one hand, there is this remix that addresses a common trope for why women feud—because of a guy—and on the other there’s Charli and Lorde’s remix that addresses another all-too-familiar trope: women being jealous of each other’s looks and success—even their “aura.” But both tropes, more often than not, relate to competing for a man because “being better” is how they’re able to catch and hold his attention. Because, yes, unfortunately, much of what women do is still latently rooted in attracting the male gaze. Worse still, male approval. 

    At the same time, women are just as concerned with gaining the favor of other women. As Charli was when she had to deal with the public shaming from MARINA in 2016 after the “that FROOT looks familiar” debacle. Which is what makes it so momentous that MARINA was actually moved enough by the “Girl, so confusing” remix to publicly comment (yet again), “THIS IS BEAUTIFUL. Just cried listening to it. It’s so courageous and human to make work about this topic and it’s so healing to listen to it. Congratulations on an iconic album @charlixcx.” And yes, she was probably just glad to learn that Charli didn’t end up admitting the song was about her instead of Lorde. Though both Lorde and MARINA can be accused of having “the same hair” as Charli at one point or another… 

    Signs of Lorde’s involvement with the record were already noticeable when she declared on social media, “The only album I’ve ever pre-saved is out today… Charli just cooked this one different. So much grit, grace & skin in the game. I speak for all of us when I say it’s an honor to be moved, changed and gagged by her work. There is NO ONE like this bitch.” That statement feels like a retroactive “Easter egg” about the lyrical contributions she would provide for this particular song. 

    As for Brandy and Monica, their feud might be laid to rest in their personal lives, but for the sake of the song, they can still bring the catty, possessive vibe necessary for a theme of this nature, presently singing, “How could you still be so disillusioned after all of this time, time?/I told you once before, I’ll tell you once more, the boy is still mine, mine.” In his mind, of course, he’s both of theirs, thinks there’s “plenty” of him to go around. And such casual, cavalier thinking on many a man’s part is what helps keep stoking the fires of female competitiveness. Also manifest in Charli allegedly referring to Taylor Swift on “Sympathy is a knife” when she laments, “‘Cause I couldn’t even be her if I tried/I’m opposite, I’m on the other side/I feel all these feelings I can’t control/Oh no, don’t know why…/Why I wanna buy a gun?/Why I wanna shoot myself?/Volatilе at war with my dialogue.” 

    Perhaps the only way to mitigate some of that negative dialogue is by hashing it out with the other woman in question. The one who’s causing all this envy—yet who might actually be envious as well. For no woman, no matter how seemingly self-confident, is immune to the trap of low self-esteem/self-regard that tends to be a more pervasive affliction among this particular gender.

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Ariana of the Spirits: Grande Goes From Feeling Haunted and Depressed on “ghostin” to Sexy and Elated on “supernatural”

    Ariana of the Spirits: Grande Goes From Feeling Haunted and Depressed on “ghostin” to Sexy and Elated on “supernatural”

    Less than a month after Sweetener was released, Ariana Grande’s freshly-made ex-boyfriend and possible love of her life, Mac Miller, was found dead in his Studio City abode. The cause was an accidental drug overdose spurred by the pills laced with fentanyl that were sold to him. At the time of his death, Miller and Grande had only been split up for about four months, with Grande making the breakup announcement in May of 2018 just before she famously moved on to Pete Davidson. 

    The May of the previous year, however, Miller was very much there for Grande right when she got off the plane in the U.S. in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing. A horrific terrorist attack that took place during the May 22nd date of the Dangerous Woman Tour. Through the trauma of it all, Miller would be there to support her, even if he still had plenty of his own demons to wrestle with. As Grande kept soldiering through the tour, complete with a benefit concert called One Love Manchester that found her returning to the city in June to show her support, Miller was around to offer her a shoulder to cry on (and to perform onstage with her at the One Love event). Even if that shoulder flickered in and out along with the rest of him. Because it was obvious he was still going back to his drug use security blanket, remarking at one point during a 2017 interview with W, “I’ve spent a good time very sober and now I’m just, like, living regularly.” “Living regularly” by his standards, that is. 

    A lifestyle that was no longer tenable to Grande, who dealt with a major backlash in May of 2018 not only for getting together with Davidson so soon after her breakup with Miller, but also because she was blamed by many for Miller’s DUI arrest the same month, right after the media caught wind of her new relationship. In response to a viral tweet that touted that blame, Grande replied, “I am not a babysitter or a mother and no woman should feel that they need to be. I have cared for him and tried to support his sobriety & prayed for his balance for years (and always will of course) but shaming/blaming women for a man’s inability to keep his shit together is a very major problem. Let’s please stop doing that. Of course I didn’t share about how hard or scary it was while it was happening but it was.”

    The scariness of it all was something Grande hadn’t fully processed, as 2018 eventually revealed. Having thrown herself into another relationship as a balm for the one didn’t work (something of her modus operandi [in addition to J. Lo’s]), she was forced to take stock after Miller’s death. And “ghostin” was a very clear indication of that. It became part of Grande’s undeniable “therapy” in the wake of trying to deal with both Miller’s demise and the revelation that maybe being engaged to Pete Davidson wasn’t the best idea. In fact, it was only a month after Miller’s overdose that Grande and Davidson called it quits. The relationship lasted a mere six months. But it was immortalized with the Sweetener track entitled, what else, “pete davidson.” 

    Alas, with the feelings expressed on Sweetener already feeling stale to Grande in the aftermath of all she endured, it was a little less than six months later, in February of 2019, that she had a new album out: thank u, next. Instantly acclaimed, the dissection of the album led many to immediately pinpoint the song that was most overtly about Miller: “ghostin.”

    As the eighth track, the song stands out among the other eleven as the most serious and contemplative. Besides the song that appropriately follows it, “in my head,” “ghostin” sets itself apart as the most palpable lament. Perhaps it’s for this reason that Grande places it right after the more playful “make up.” The latter is a song that reduces Grande’s “erratic” behavior to something cute and intentional—because it’s just her way of building up toward hot make up sex. “ghostin” is quick to shatter that illusion. Indeed, it was so real that, for a time, Grande didn’t want it included on the record. In fact, “ghostin” fans can only thank Taylor Swift’s favorite person, Scooter Braun, that it’s on there. For, as Grande mentioned during an interview with Zach Sang, “It was a lot. It was too much, actually. I was literally begging Scooter to take it off. And he was like, ‘You’re thinking too hard now. This is special and you should share it with everybody.’” Sure, the way she tells it, it sounds a bit pushy and like maybe she was steamrolled into sharing emotions she didn’t want to, but it’s true that “ghostin” adds a rich layer to thank u, next that wouldn’t be there without it. 

    Her candor about still being in love with someone else—a literal ghost now—is something that many can relate to. Particularly those who have chosen to move on from a person not because they fell out of love with them, but because being with them proved to be too toxic of a situation (yes, the dichotomy is real). So it is that Grande sings, “I know that it breaks your heart when I cry again/Over him/I know that it breaks your heart when I cry again/‘Stead of ghostin’ him.” But how can Grande ghost a ghost? Not only that, how can she pretend the death of someone she loved so deeply doesn’t hurt her, even if Davidson was supposed to be her “true love” at that moment in time? Of Davidson’s patience with such an unusual scenario, Grande praises, “Baby, you do it so well/You’ve been so understanding, you’ve been so good/And I’m puttin’ you through more than one ever should/And I’m hating myself ‘cause you don’t want to/Admit that it hurts you.” 

    In the end, that patience and suppression of his own emotions were not enough to weather the storm of her sadness. Of dealing with a loss so great that she had to recognize maybe there was a force majeure at play in terms of preventing her engagement with Davidson to stick. Though it seemed, at first, she was doing her best to ignore what her feelings were inherently telling her, opening the song with, “I know you hear me when I cry/I try to hold it in at night/While you’re sleeping next to me…/Look at the cards that we’ve been dealt/If you were anybody else/Probably wouldn’t last a day/Every tear’s a rain parade from hell.” And this after Grande had truly believed on Sweetener that she had “no tears left to cry.”

    Grande then gets even more raw by confessing, “Though I wish he were here instead/Don’t want that living in your head/He just comes to visit me/When I’m dreaming every now and then.” It is this lyric in particular that many have speculated to be a foil for Miller’s verse in “Cinderella” that goes, “You in my dreams, that’s why I sleep all the time.” The addition to that being “Just to hear you say I love you, just to touch you, just to leave you behind.” It’s the “just to leave you behind” line that feels retroactively ominous. As though Miller knew somehow, one way or the other, he would be the person to truly leave the relationship, even if she left him first. But in a far less literal way. Miller’s haunting quality also intensifies with another lyric toward the end of the song when he forewarns, “Well, wherever you came from, wherever you goin’/I promise I’m not far behind, yeah/So don’t you dare throw this away.” Based on “ghostin,” Grande definitely didn’t. Or couldn’t. 

    On the song that follows it, “in my head,” her reconciliation with the fact that she tried to paint Davidson in an image and light that suited her immediate needs manifests in the lines, “Painted a picture/I thought I knew you well.” This inversely mimics the lyrics on “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” when she declares, “I don’t like how you paint me, yet I’m still here hanging.” Just as Miller is still there hanging in the corners of Grande’s mind—no matter how far recessed. His image likely elevated in the way that can only happen when someone dies, and glorification tends to be the natural reaction. 

    With the passing of one album, Positions, released in between thank u, next and Eternal Sunshine, Grande evidently had time to reassess her take on otherworldly phenomena. For while “ghostin” laments the power of the supernatural, “supernatural” reveres it. Sees it as a divine blessing. Placed on the record as the sixth track, it follows “eternal sunshine,” one of several flagrant “divorce songs” aimed at Dalton Gomez (so much for “Only wanna do it [a.k.a. get married] once, real bad/Gon’ make that shit last”). So it is that Eternal Sunshine feels structured to reveal Grande’s emotional state as it progressed from being “over” her marriage and feeling rather stifled by it to falling for, of all people, Ethan Slater (her Munchkin-playing co-star in Wicked). Which is why, after singing things like, “So I try to wipe my mind/Just so I feel less insane/Rather feel painless/I’d rather forget than know, know for sure/What we could’ve fought through behind this door/So I close it and move,” she does move—right on to the vibrant, bright tone of “supernatural.”

    If a mournful haunting was the theme of “ghostin,” then “supernatural” is all about letting the spectral take hold with joy. After mentioning the “good boy” who’s “on [her] side” in “eternal sunshine,” that “good boy” becomes the full star of “supernatural.” And yes, things get expectedly raunchy as they often do with Grande, who tells Slater, “I want you to come claim it, I do/What are you waiting for?/Yeah, I want you to name it, I do/Want you to make it yours.” Just as long as Slater doesn’t name it something like “Rebecca” à la Charlotte York in Sex and the City. Elsewhere, she lasciviously insists, “Nothin’ еlse felt this way inside me.” But in between those lyrics alluding to sexual chemistry, Grande finds time to make the lyrical theme slightly sweeter (adding a “sweetener,” if you will) via the chorus: “This love’s possessin’ me, but I don’t mind at all/It’s like supernatural/It’s takin’ over me, don’t wanna fight the fall/It’s like supernatural.”

    Thus, there’s a far more exuberant aura to the notion of supernatural forces being at play in her love life. As for Grande making her seventh album themed around Michel Gondry’s 2004 movie, eerily enough, Mac Miller cited Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as his second favorite film in a 2013 article for Complex. Of the movie’s high-up placement on his list, Miller commented, “I love Jim Carrey when he’s being serious. He killed this role. Whenever I’m talking to a girl, I always tell them to watch Eternal Sunshine. It cuts deep.” Grande would tend to agree, obviously. 

    Other themes from thank u, next crop up again on Eternal Sunshine, too—like Grande saying, “I met someone else/And we havin’ better discussions/I know they say I move on too fast/But this one gon’ last/‘Cause her name is Ari/And I’m so good with that.” A sologamist sentiment that reappears on “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” with the lines, “So for now, it’s only me/And maybe that’s all I need.” Except, as history has shown, Grande has a tendency to be a serial monogamist rather than a comfortable-in-her-own-skin sologamist. Perhaps being perennially haunted by past relationships has something to do with that. For nothing staves off the bitter realities of an old relationship like the celestial nature of a new one.

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Two Different Emotional Approaches to the Aftermath of “Homewrecking”: Sabrina Carpenter’s “because i liked a boy” and Ariana Grande’s “yes, and?”

    Two Different Emotional Approaches to the Aftermath of “Homewrecking”: Sabrina Carpenter’s “because i liked a boy” and Ariana Grande’s “yes, and?”

    As two pop stars often compared on a vocal level, it’s also no surprise that Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande tend to have overlapping themes in their music. Indeed, Carpenter even opened for Grande on 2017’s Dangerous Woman Tour (specifically for the Brazil dates that occurred after the illustrious Manchester Arena bombing). At that time, Carpenter had only released two albums, Eyes Wide Open and Evolution (Grande herself just had three, rounded out by Dangerous Woman).

    A year after the tour (which she cherished enough to decorate her couch with an Ariana Grande pillow so as to commemorate the momentousness of the event), Carpenter would release her “companion piece albums,” Singular: Act I and Singular: Act II. This “set” would signal her full-tilt sonic transition on 2022’s Emails I Can’t Send, which saw her shift away entirely from the country twang that still occasionally came out in the years since singles like “We’ll Be the Stars.” The same kind of twang that Taylor Swift eventually chose to shed as well. But it was a more Miley Cyrus-inspired twang that Carpenter possessed—which is perhaps what helped her to win third place in The Next Miley Cyrus Project back in 2009, six years before the release of Eyes Wide Open. 

    However, many seem to have forgotten that Christina Aguilera—far more than Taylor or Miley—is Carpenter’s key musical influence. And that shines through in the vocals she’s presented over the years. Aguilera’s voice has the kind of signature pitch that Mariah Carey is frequently praised for (though, of course, MC would likely mention that she has a five-octave vocal range compared to Xtina’s four-octave one). Grande has the same octave range as Aguilera, yet is most often compared to Carey. A comparison she’s more than taken a shine to in her collaborations with “The Diva” in recent years (including working on a remix of “Oh Santa!” that she performed with Carey for Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special in 2020). The latest being a remix of “yes, and?” that’s, believe it or not, far inferior to the original. In any case, perhaps Carpenter’s comparisons to Grande (particularly in the wake of “nonsense”) ought to be flattering to the latter—after all, she’s not that much older than the blonde Pennsylvanian (a description that also applies to Aguilera), but is already being considered worthy of such an elevated “mentor status.”

    Alas, that mentorship came too late in terms of Grande providing inspiration to Carpenter on how to treat accusations of being a homewrecker. Something that was hurled at her in the wake of Olivia Rodrigo’s debut hit single, “drivers license,” in 2021. As Carpenter retells it on “because i liked a boy,” “I got death threats fillin’ up semi-trucks/Tell me who I am, guess I don’t have a choice/All because I liked a boy.” She also points out the fact that it’s all a little bit silly considering she wasn’t even dating Joshua Bassett (the ultimately gay dude who caused all this commotion) anymore when Rodrigo dropped her hit. Hence, her addition to the chorus: “And all of this for what?/When everything went down, we’d already broken up/Please tell me who I am, guess I don’t have a choice/All because I liked a boy.” And “who she is” to the Olivia fans who were scandalized by her “stealin’ from the young” (side note: Rodrigo is a mere four years younger than Carpenter) is a “homewrecker” and a “slut.” These being the labels Carpenter attaches to herself throughout the song, choosing to wear them like scarlet As (in fact, she said Easy A—not, say, The Scarlet Letter—was the vibe she was channeling for the track). 

    In contrast, after being accused of actually breaking up a home (namely, Lilly Jay’s home with Ethan Slater), Grande came at the mass of criticism and online hate with the simple and effective clapback, “yes, and?” While Carpenter chose to emulate a more Britney Spears in the “Circus” video route for the visual that accompanied “because i liked a boy,” Grande put a face to shrugging off outside contempt by paying homage to, of all things, the Paula Abdul video for “Cold Hearted.” But the nod to this Abdul video wasn’t as random as some might think, for the original sees a slew of “record company executives” arrive to effectively critique what Abdul has been working on. In the same vein, Grande labels her version of record company executives simply as “The Critics.” Inviting them into her “art space” with open arms as she proceeds to then tell them, “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 then urges others who have been mercilessly criticized for their actions, like Carpenter, to “come on, put your lipstick on (no one can tell you nothin’)/Come on and walk this way through the fire (don’t care what’s on their mind)/And if you find yourself in a dark situation/Just turn on your light and be like/‘Yes, and?’/Say that shit with your chest, and/Be your own fuckin’ best friend.” 

    It’s a sharp departure from the much more self-pitying tack Carpenter takes with her go-to lyrics, “Tell me who I am, guess I don’t have a choice/All because I liked/I’m the hot topic on your tongue/I’m a rebound gettin’ ’round stealin’ from the young/Tell me who I am, guess I don’t have a choice/All because I liked a boy.” Elsewhere in the song, Carpenter is sure to downplay and diminish the relationship she had with Bassett as one of pure innocence (or, as she sings, “Fell so deeply into it/It was all so innocent”), as though making certain that all her detractors retroactively know that nothing “untoward” happened. Save for “cuddling on trampolines,” “bond[ing] over Black Eyed Peas” and “tryna hold you close while your heart was failing.” All platonic enough, surely. 

    Grande, conversely, wants to see to it that her detractors know she doesn’t give one goddamn what they think. To more “zen-ly” get that message across, Grande pronounces, “My tongue is sacred, I speak upon what I like/Protected, sexy, discerning with my time, my time/Your energy is yours and mine is mine/What’s mine is mine.” The reemphasis on that last line also seems to be a direct reference to Slater, who she now openly declares to be “hers.” She appears to double down on that message with another song on eternal sunshine titled “the boy is mine.” Making no apologies whatsoever for her “outrageous” behavior, Grande further goads, “My face is sitting, I don’t need no disguise/Don’t comment on my body, do not reply/Your business is yours and mine is mine/Why do you care so much whose dick I ride?/Why?” 

    These are questions that Carpenter could have just as easily posed to the Livies that were out for blood in the wake of “drivers license” reigniting the many suspicions about Carpenter “stealing” Bassett away from Rodrigo (a speculation that was further propelled by Rodrigo’s “traitor” lyrics, “You’d talk to her/When we were together/Loved you at your worst/But that didn’t matter/It took you two weeks/To go off and date her/Guess you didn’t cheat/But you’re still a traitor”).

    Alas, Grande hadn’t yet released “yes, and?” to light the way for how to deal with being called a homewrecker and a slut. Marina and the Diamonds, however, had already released “Homewrecker” in 2012, gleefully touting the right approach and attitude for handling naysayers with the assertion: “And I don’t belong to anyone/They call me homewrecker, homewrecker (I’m only happy when I’m on the run)/They call me homewrecker, homewrecker (I broke a million hearts just for fun).”

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Ariana Grande’s “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” Video: A Postmodernist’s Wet Dream

    Ariana Grande’s “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” Video: A Postmodernist’s Wet Dream

    It’s safe to say that, of all the pop stars working today (apart from, of course, Madonna), Ariana Grande is the one most blatantly enamored of postmodernism—wherein no distinction exists between high and low art, and references galore are placed in a “pastiche blender.” Even more than her contemporaries, Lana Del Rey and Taylor Swift, Grande is the most obvious in how she’ll take a piece of pop culture and “reinterpret” it. Though perhaps some would say she’s merely recreating it, shot-for-shot, à la Gus Van Sant with Psycho. That much can practically be said of the video for her second single from Eternal Sunshine, “we can’t be friends (wait for your love).” This following her other pastiche-drenched video for “yes, and?,” which is a knockoff of Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted” video. 

    As with “yes, and?,” Christian Breslauer also directed “we can’t be friends (wait for your love),” marking their second collaboration. Perhaps they didn’t end up working together sooner due to Grande’s long-standing devotion to Hannah Lux Davis, who has brought us so many Grande music videos over the years, including “Bang Bang,” “Love Me Harder,” “Focus,” “Into You,” “Side to Side,” “breathin,” “thank u, next” (also filled with movie-related pastiche), “7 rings,” “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored,” “boyfriend” and “Don’t Call Me Angel.”

    But “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” has a different vibe from all of those aforementioned light-hearted videos (of which, even “breathin” was more light-hearted than this). Suffused with the kind of melancholia and restraint that comes in the wake of a breakup, Grande and Breslauer take what Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman did in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and distill it down to four minutes and forty-three seconds (something Kaufman would likely be horrified by). Starting with Grande being in the waiting room of “Brighter Days Inc.” (dumbed down from the more “esoteric” company name in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lacuna Inc.—lacuna meaning “an unfilled space; a gap”), Grande’s penchant for pastiche might even extend to the 2004 (also when Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was released) video for Gwen Stefani’s “What You Waiting For?” In it, Stefani also finds her in a dubious, nondescript waiting room filling out a form filled with odd questions (e.g., “Do you like the smell of gasoline?”). Except it isn’t to help erase her memory, but rather, “be inspired” a.k.a. get rid of her writer’s block. Grande doesn’t tend to have any issues with that, especially when she’s in her “after a breakup/new relationship” phase. 

    Riffing on Clementine Kruczynski’s (Kate Winslet) look, Grande sits in the waiting room of Brighter Days Inc.—an air of uncertainty about her—styled in a fur-trim coat, tights with knee-high boots (featuring a 70s-esque flower pattern) and a flower flourish drawn in white around her eye. This particular detail gives more Katy Perry than Clementine vibes (especially in the former’s hippie-dippy “Never Really Over” video), but it’s part of Grande’s own spin on the character. Which now also incorporates some version of herself thanks to her recent experience of wanting to erase the memory of a botched relationship. Namely, the one that resulted in her two-year marriage to Dalton Gomez. Hence, like Joel Barish (Jim Carrey, who Grande is a well-known fan of), we see Grande-as-“Peaches” (a none too subtle allusion to Clementine) filling out a form that basically denies Brighter Days Inc. any legal responsibility for what might happen after the procedure—including a lingering and barely dormant sense of regret. 

    So it is that we see “Peaches” checking the “Yes” box under the statement, “You have given extensive thought behind your decision and give Brighter Days Inc. the exclusive permission to remove this person completely from your memory.” Clementine herself, of course, didn’t give much extensive thought to it, later telling Joel, “You know me, I’m impulsive.” Peaches is likely the same way, simply wanting to rid herself of the pain that comes from remembering a failed relationship. Thus, despite seeing the anxiousness radiating from her as she resolves to go through with the decision, Peaches knows that it’s “for the best.” 

    Watching the “technicians” remove key mementos of the relationship from the box she brought in (the same way the patients in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind do), viewers soon see the wall of the “operating room” open up behind her (kind of the way the wall opens up behind Miley Cyrus in the “Used To Be Young” video) to reveal the first memory to be scraped. The one that relates to the tiny teddy bear in the box. A bear plucked from what the Brits (and Arctic Monkeys) call a teddy picker by Grande’s ex, played by Evan Peters…who is labeled simply as “Lover” where credited (how Swiftian). The memory then starts to black-out around her (the same way it does for Joel just as he’s remembering all the “good stuff” he loved about being with Clementine). Startled by the abyssal nature of the process, this is the moment where the lyrics, “Me and my truth, we sit in silence/Mmm, baby girl it’s just me and you.” And as the very “Dancing On My Own” by Robyn beat swells again, the blackness around her is replaced by another memory, one in which Lover’s back is turned to her in bed. While she sits up in the place next to him, it’s as though the two are at the point in their relationship where things have become strained, and words have lost all meaning. 

    From this memory, Grande runs out to open the door, leading her into a snow-filled landscape where “Brighter Days” of them making snow angels together exist. This being Grande’s version of Joel and Clementine lying on the ice of the frozen-over Charles River (though, in actuality, that scene was filmed in Yorktown Heights). A “cut” is then made by way of a sheet falling over the scene to transition us from Peaches lying on the snow to Peaches lying in bed with Lover (side note: the sheets’ pattern gives off a decidedly “hospital bed” feel—maybe an unwitting allusion to how love makes you crazy). And in the same way that Clementine is literally yanked away from Joel while they’re lying on the ice together, so, too, is Lover while he and Peaches are looking at each other with the same loving fondness in bed. 

    In the next scene, Breslauer cuts to the memory box again, as a technician picks up a framed photo of the two arranged in “Samantha Baker (Molly Ringwald) and Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling) pose” with a cake between them, exactly as it was in John Hughes’ Sixteen Candles. It is at this moment that viewers might realize Grande is incapable of sticking to just one movie as a visual reference point (even with “34+35,” she couldn’t “only” refer to Austin Powers with her fembot aesthetic….there had to be a Frankenstein premise as well)—something we saw at a peak in “thank u, next.” A video that, although it wields Mean Girls as its primary inspiration, also sees fit to devolve into nods to Bring It On, Legally Blonde and 13 Going on 30. 

    While it’s unclear if Lover is doing this Sixteen Candles homage deliberately because he knows how much Peaches adores the movie or it’s simply another instance of Grande incorporating a pop culture reference apropos of nothing (which is understandable, as many women and gay men’s minds function that way), the point is that Lover disappears from the picture just as they lean into kiss one another over the birthday candles (something that was just as stressful to watch in Sixteen Candles for those fearing a fire hazard). Sitting there alone as the lyric, “So for now, it’s only me/And maybe that’s all I need” plays, Grande blows out the candles before we see the map of her brain again. In the style of Joel freaking out when the “eraser guys” manage to find Clementine hidden within a memory of his childhood (a suggestion made by Clementine so that he could hold onto her in some way even after the process), Grande starts panicking and crying before the computer flashes a sign that reads, “Relinking.” 

    In another memory still, we see Grande on the couch with Lover as he presents her with a necklace that then turns into a dog collar before Lover himself is transformed into a dog (for, as Birds of Prey taught us, dogs are the animals women are most likely to replace men with). This is where Grande takes the most liberties with her reinterpretation of the movie, for it seems that Brighter Days Inc. isn’t just capable of erasing memories, but also reworking them entirely. As such, the interior decor around her continues to, let’s say, shapeshift, while the TV in front of her plays back the memories one last time before we see Peaches shaking hands with the doctor and nurse for doing their job, the procedure now over. 

    The image of the box of memories, teddy bear and all, being incinerated then leads into Peaches walking down a street with a new boyfriend and passing Lover with his new girlfriend, neither party registering any kind of recognition. And just like that, Peaches forgets all about her pain. Just as viewers might forget all about the original Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But that’s what pastiche is about: subverting collective memories for the sake of consumption.

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Forget Me Now: Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine Enters the Canon of Pop Icon Divorce Albums

    Forget Me Now: Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine Enters the Canon of Pop Icon Divorce Albums

    Thanks to Taylor Swift’s ever-increasing monopoly on the subject, if there’s anyone who flies increasingly under the radar for writing and singing about love/breakups apart from Jennifer Lopez, it’s Ariana Grande. With her 2019 album, thank u, next, she reminded listeners of her premier status as a pop singer who serves as “an expert” on love—both falling in and out of it. With 2020’s Positions, Grande stumbled just a little bit as she ostensibly struggled to strike the perfect balance between the newly-minted “lockdown pop” genre and maintaining the sound and style that people had grown accustomed to with both Sweetener and thank u, next. On her seventh album, Eternal Sunshine, Grande (from the wreckage of divorce) marries the auditory and lyrical elements of her three previous records, adding just a dash of “Glinda whimsy” into the mix (indeed, it’s quite obvious that her time filming a musical like Wicked had an effect on her vocal and sonic stylings—sort of like it did on Madonna with Evita). 

    Most essential to the album, however, is the running theme that centers around Michel Gondry’s 2004 film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (written by none other than Charlie Kaufman). In terms of titles being continuously repurposed with each new generation that’s inspired by them, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was itself taken from a line in Alexander Pope’s 1717 poem, “Eloisa to Abelard.” On that note, Grande could have just as well made this a double album, with one side titled Ariana to Dalton and Ariana to Ethan. Instead, she chooses to “let listeners decide” between what’s real and what’s fabricated/embellished on the record. In other words, she’s not one to confess which parts were pulled from fiction and which from reality. As she told Zane Lowe during her Apple Music interview for the album, “You can pull from your truth, you can pull from a concept, you can pull from a film, from a story you’re telling, from a story about a relationship that your friend told you [this being a version of what Taylor Swift did for “You Belong With Me”]. From, you know, art is really…it can come from anywhere.” A very evasive answer, even if a true one (and also, try telling that to plagiarism fundamentalists). In Grande’s case, Gondry’s film serves as the “lovely costume” she wears to tell the story on this record. One that commences with “intro (end of the world).”

    It is, thus, right out the gate that one can feel the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind influence, being that Montauk is famously known as “The End of the World” due to its geographical location at the tip of Long Island, complete with craggy cliffs that are ripe for jumping from. Less romantically, though, it’s also sometimes referred to as “The Last Resort”—that is, the last option on Long Island once you get to it (unless you plan on turning right back around). This is the nickname that perhaps more closely applies to some of what Grande endured during her brief marriage to Dalton Gomez before causing a stir with her Ethan Slater dalliance. So it is that the first line she provides on Eternal Sunshine is the question: “Uh/How can I tell if I’m in the right relationship?/Aren’t you really supposed to know that shit?/Feel it in your bones and own that shit?/I don’t know/Then I had this interaction/I’ve been thinking ‘bout for like five weeks/Wonder if he’s thinking ‘bout it too and smiling/Wonder if he knows that that’s been what’s inspiring me/Wonder if he’s judging me like I am right now.” 

    Those versed in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind can immediately hear that, more than talking about herself and Slater, Grande is talking about Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) and Joel Barish (Jim Carrey). The “interaction” in question easily speaking to both the first actual time Clementine and Joel met and the time they meet by “happenstance” on a train to Montauk (and also the train back from it) after their memories of one another have been erased. Concluding the intro with a verse that highlights the album’s key image, “sunshine,” Grande croons, “If the sun refused to shine/Baby, would I still be your lover?/Would you want me there?/If the moon went dark tonight/And if it all ended tomorrow/Would I be the one on your mind, your mind, your mind?/And if it all ended tomorrow/Would you be the one on mine?” (Way to channel Lana Del Rey’s choir confusing “mine” with “mind” on “The Grants.”) 

    Starting and ending that intro with a question should give listeners plenty of insight into her cryptic “Caterpillar-meet-the-Cheshire-Cat from Alice in Wonderland” mood. But the answer to whether Dalton Gomez would be on her mind if it all ended tomorrow is an overt no based on the second track, “bye” (much more final sounding than k bye for now). A seeming lyrical homage to Ariana favorite *NSYNC (how dare she support Justin after Britney’s memoir unveilings though) and their 2000 hit, “Bye Bye Bye,” as well as Beyoncé’s 2016 bop, “Sorry,” during which she illustriously urges, “Tell him, ‘Boy bye.’” Grande turns that into, “Bye-bye/Boy, bye/Bye-bye/It’s over, it’s over, oh yeah/Bye-bye/I’m taking what’s mine.” And what’s “hers,” in this scenario, is her mind, heart and soul (a concept that tracks based on Grande’s ethereal, hippie-dippy nature). Besides, as she points out, “This ain’t the first time/I’ve been hostage to these tears [a double allusion to “no tears left to cry” and the event that inspired it: the Manchester Arena bombing]/I can’t believe I’m finally moving through my fears/At least I know how hard we tried, both you and me/Didn’t we?/Didn’t we?” In keeping with the thank u, next precedent of peppering her friends on the album, she then references one of her besties, Courtney Chipolone, in the pre-chorus, “So I grab my stuff/Courtney just pulled up in the driveway/It’s time.” 

    And yet, even though she can acknowledge “it’s time,” her hesitation is tantamount to Ross Geller’s (David Schwimmer) not wanting to be divorced three times. And, considering Grande once announced, “One day I’ll walk down the aisle…/Only wanna do it once, real bad/Gon’ make that shit last,” it’s no wonder she has a hint of “Geller Syndrome.” Because, turns out, Grande fell prey to being a Hollywood cliche all too soon. Thus, the song “don’t wanna break up again” (a contrast to “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored”). Which speaks so savagely of her marriage to Gomez that she refers to it as a “situationship,” as in: “This situationship has to end/But I just can’t refuse/I don’t wanna break up again, baby.” One might interpret as her trying to break things off with Slater before the media or anyone else finds out, but the Gomez allusions are clear in verses like, “I made it so easy/Spent so much on therapy/Blamed my own codependency/But you didn’t even try/When you finally did, it was at the wrong time.”

    Elsewhere, she goes back to her self-love motif (the one most clearly established on “thank u, next”) with the pronouncement, “Won’t abandon me again for you and I.” A slight Beyoncé nod (from yet another Lemonade track, “Don’t Hurt Yourself”) also comes again in the form of: “I’m to much for you/So I really gotta do/The thing I don’t wanna do.” And that is: break the fuck up in favor of a Munchkin. But, one supposes she’s been kinder about the break up in her lyrics than, say, Miley Cyrus (with singles like “Slide Away” and “Flowers”) as she waxes poetically, “Just one kiss goodbye/With tears in our eyes/Hope you won’t regret me/Hope you’ll still think fondly of our little life.” This, too, is kinder than what Clementine might say to Joel on the matter. 

    On that note, the next interlude on the record (because “intro [end of the world]” kind of counts as one, too), “Saturn Returns Interlude” (or what No Doubt would call Return of Saturn), is reminiscent of the voicemail left by Grande’s friend and tour director Doug Middlebrook just before leading into “in my head” on thank u, next. This time, it’s astrologer Diana Garland giving the wake-up call. Using these snippets of other people’s words, in both cases, serves as Grande’s way of processing the end of a relationship, de facto the end of an era. And how she will proceed into a new one with a more “awake” state of mind. In truth, “Saturn Returns Interlude” is less homage to the dreamy state of losing one’s memory as presented in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind than it is an homage to the dreamy state Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) exists in upon entering the Land of Oz (because, yeah, Wicked is all over this record as well). Eventually, though, Dorothy wakes up from her literal dream. With no need of listening to the surreal astrological counsel of Garland as she explains, When we’re all born, Saturn’s somewhere/And the Saturn cycle takes around about twenty-nine years/That’s when we gotta wake up and smell the coffee/Because if we’ve just been sort of relying on our cleverness Or relying,you know, just kind of floating along/Saturn comes along and hits you over the head/Hits you over the head, hits you over the head, and says, ‘Wake up’/It’s time for you to get real about life and sort out who you really are.”

    Her words than become warped and echo-y as the interlude ends with, “Wake up. Get real” before leading into the eponymous “Eternal Sunshine.” A song that seems to shed light on what happens after the twenty-ninth year, when that “Saturn smackdown” hits, particularly if you’re Adele or Ariana—because, indeed, Grande is giving us her pithy divorce album the same way Adele did back in 2021 with 30 (released, trickily, when she was thirty-three). Or Madonna with 1989’s Like A Prayer, for that matter (released when she was thirty years old, so yeah, the return of Saturn theory tracks on monumental personal growth shifts that lead to inevitable relationship schisms). 

    Once again produced by Max Martin (along with Shintaro Yasuda and DaviDior), the R&B-infused sound remains something of a surprise coming from the “auteur producer,” better known for his deftness at crafting more pop-oriented melodies. Even so, he seems at home in Grande’s genre landscape, which patently favors house and R&B throughout. Opening with the lines, “I don’t care what people say, we both know I couldn’t change you,” Middlebrook’s aforementioned warning comes to mind: “Here’s the thing: you’re in love with a version of a person that you’ve created in your head, that you are trying to but cannot fix. The only thing you can fix is yourself.” And even that’s often too tall of an order sometimes. Still, Grande keeps expressing the desire to try. Though that can come in unexpected ways—like wanting to “wipe her mind” of the memories of Gomez. Another interesting tidbit presented in the song is the idea that perhaps Gomez was stepping out on Grande long before she did on him, this being alluded to in the lyrics, “Hope you feel alright when you’re with her/I found a good boy and he’s on my side.” This latest “good boy” (which makes Ethan Slater seem decidedly canine…in addition to his already-present associations of being Munckin-like and kind of gay), however, might end up eventually being branded as her “eternal sunshine.” Because when Grande says, “You’re just my eternal sunshine,” it isn’t exactly a compliment, so much as a declaration that this is now a person (read: man) she wants to forget ever existed for her own self-preservation. 

    Although delivered in an expectedly “chirpy” way, there’s an air of resentment in Grande’s lyrics, including, “I showed you all my demons, all my lies/Yet you played me like Atari.” After name-checking that “vintage” video game, it’s entirely possible the company could release a limited-edition “Ari Atari” (for optimal “brand synergy”)—but if Monopoly didn’t capitalize on “monopoly,” then probably not. As for the use of that brand as an actual word, it translates to mean “to hit a target” in Japanese. And Grande was very much “hit” by her marriage to Gomez, as much as she was “hit” by Cupid’s arrow when it came to Slater. This being the presumed theme of “supernatural” (incidentally, Madonna has a song titled this that was written during/for her own divorce album, Like A Prayer, and it now appears on the thirtieth anniversary edition of it). 

    Switching to a more ebullient state of mind, Grande sings, “It’s like supernatural/This love’s possessin’ me, but I don’t mind at all/It’s like supernatural/It’s takin’ over me, don’t wanna fight the fall/It’s like supernatural.” Unfortunately, she can’t see fit to stop there, continuing, “Need your hands all up on my body/Like the moon needs thе stars/Nothin’ еlse felt this way inside me/Boy, let’s go too far [this extending into breaking up a marriage]/I want you to come claim it, I do/What are you waiting for?/Yeah, I want you to name it, I do/Want you to make it yours.” It might be “sweet” were it not for the image of Slater, among other things, claiming and naming Grande’s pussy. 

    Perhaps sensing she’s gotten too personal, Grande then transitions into the more playful, more nebulous “true story”—the song she joked to Zane Lowe is “an untrue story based on all untrue events” (to reiterate, she’s in her “Caterpillar-meet-the-Cheshire-Cat from Alice in Wonderland” mood). To heighten that sense of playfulness, Martin provides Grande with something resembling a near-parody of a 90s R&B beat—making “true story” an ideal amuse-bouche before “the boy is mine.” Seeming to address, once more, the scandal she caused over her relationship with Slater, Grande asserts, “I’ll play the villain if you need me to [how very Lisa from Girl, Interrupted]/I know how this goes, yeah/I’ll be the one you pay to see, play thе scene/Roll the camеras, please.” These lyrics regarding acting out scenes not only appearing yet again after she sang (of Gomez), “So now we play separate scenes” on “eternal sunshine,” but also playing into the dual idea that she’s reenacting Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for her own art and living her life in a fishbowl wherein, eventually, it has to be asked how much one is performing for the omnipresent cameras. That conditioning that comes with being expected to be always “on” (even when one is as open about mental health as Grande). 

    The caricature of 90s R&B then continues on “the boy is mine,” which is something like a follow-up to an unreleased Grande track called “fantasize” (side note: on “true story,” Grande deliberately wields that word in the line, “This is a true story about all the lies/You fantasize/‘Bout you and I.” The song (intended as a girl group parody for a TV show [could it have been Girls 5eva?]) offers more lyrical variations on NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” with the lines, “I won’t keep waiting/I’m out the door/Bye, bye, bye.” On “the boy is mine,” however, Grande is choosing to remain all in. Doubling down on her avowal that the boy is hers, Grande claims, “I don’t wanna cause no scene/I’m usually so unproblematic/So independent.” Surely she’s being sardonic in the same way as Truman Capote (Tom Hollander) is by telling Babe Paley (Naomi Watts) in Capote vs. The Swans, “I’m famous for my discretion.”  Whether or not she’s joking, Grande wants listeners to know that she’s just giving the “bad girl anthem” fans want as opposed to acknowledging anew her Slater/homewrecker controversy. That said, Grande is certain to sound her most Brandy-esque (the same way she does for most of the Positions album) as she sings, “Somethin’ about him is made for somebody like me/Baby, come over, come over/And God knows I’m tryin’, but there’s just no use in denying/The boy is mine.” 

    Soon, the lyrics become rather reminiscent of “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored” (both lyrically and sonically, even though it’s supposed to “interpolate” the original Brandy and Monica version). This most apparent in braggadocious projections such as, “I can’t wait to try him/Le-let’s get intertwined/The stars, they aligned/The boy is minе/Watch me take my time.” As though to say, “It’s only a matter of” before she gets her object of desire. Or, as Madonna-channeling-Breathless Mahoney said on “Sooner or Later,” “Sooner or later there’s nowhere to hide/Baby, it’s time, so why waste it in chatter?/Let’s settle the matter/Baby, you’re mine on a platter I always get my man” and “If you’re on my list, it’s just a question of when.”

    And, even if that man on her list happens to be “taken,” Grande has the (im)perfect response for her detractors by way of “yes, and?”—the latest song to join the ranks of the “clapback at the critics” genre. What’s more, its video, too, pays tribute to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by way of indicating that the “art space” (a.k.a. warehouse-looking joint) she’s performing in is in Montauk. But when she demands of her critics with arrogant confidence, “Why do you care so much/Whose dick I ride?” she fails to take into account that many might care for the simple purpose of avoiding STDs.

    The upbeat defiance of “yes, and?” is subsequently contrasted by “we can’t be friends (wait for your love),” the second single from Eternal Sunshine. As she gives her best imitation of Robyn on Body Talk (courtesy of Martin and ILYA being extremely well-versed in such Swedish-helmed Europop), Grande paints the bittersweet portrait of a woman who is a clear believer in the message of When Harry Met Sally. And, once more, it’s a song that can double as a depiction of her relationship dynamics with both Gomez and Slater. For it’s a track that’s capable of speaking to not wanting to be friends with an ex (let alone an ex-husband) and not wanting to stay in the friend zone at the outset of a dynamic. Thus, “We can’t be friends/But I’d like to just pretend/You cling to your papers and pens/Wait until you like me again.” And while the part about “clinging to papers and pens” sounds like a decided real estate agent dig and/or reference to divorce papers, there’s also an element that gives a nod to Grande not wanting to pretend that she didn’t feel attracted to Slater despite the taboo (in every way) nature of such a yearning. 

    The jury seems to lean more toward “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” being about Gomez, if the transition into “i wish i hated you” is anything to go by. Reverting to the dreamy-sounding aura listeners heard on “Saturn Returns Interlude” and “eternal sunshine,” the melancholic tone is the most “divorce-y context” of the album. As such, Grande commences it with the verse, “Hung all my clothes in the closet you made/Your shoes still in boxes, I send them your way/Hoping life brings you no new pain.” Then, for the coup de grace of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind references, Grande says, “I rearrange my memories/I try to rewrite our life.” Mostly, by trying to delude herself into thinking it never happened. Because, like Don Draper said, “It will shock you how much this never happened.” Memory’s funny like that, a tool for self-preservation as much as it is self-harm. As the most musically sparse song on the record (thanks to production help from ILYA) it stands out as a “little gem” in the vein of “pov” from Positions.

    In fact, the entire end of the album has that “little gem” feel, changing sonic tack as well on “imperfect for you” (a personal favorite of Grande’s). As the second to last song, it signals Grande’s complete transition away from her relationship with Gomez and into the “delightful” abyss of her new one with Slater. Who is directly referenced with the urging, “Throw your guitar and your clothes in the backseat/My love, they don’t understand.” Grande describes how, upon meeting him, “Now I just can’t go where you don’t go” (which smacks of Tove Lo singing, “Come whatever, now or never/I follow you anywhere you go/Yeah, wherever, doesn’t matter/I follow you anywhere you go/Stay together, you make me better”).  

    Grande also addresses the appeal of Slater in terms of assuaging her ubiquitous anxiety, remarking (from both her and Slater’s perspective), “And usually, I’m/Fucked up, anxious, too much/But I’ll love you like you need me to/Imperfect for you/Messy, completely distressed/But I’m not like that since I met you/Imperfect for you.” 

    Having expunged her memory of Gomez by the end of Eternal Sunshine, it leaves the door wide open (no sexual innuendo intended) for Slater to be fully focused on for “ordinary things” featuring Nonna (not a rapper, but rather, Ari’s grandma, Marjorie Grande, who also cameos on thank u, next just before “bloodline”). Blissing out on the idea that, “No matter what we do/There’s never gonna be an ordinary thing/No ordinary things with you/It’s funny, but it’s true,” the most important takeaway is what Grande concludes the song with in wielding a recording of her grandma (of which she has many). That piece of wisdom at last answering the question she posed at the beginning of the record: “How can I tell if I’m in the right relationship?”

    Per “Nonna,” the answer is simple: “Never go to bed without kissin’ goodnight. That’s the worst thing to do, don’t ever, ever do that. And if you can’t, and if you don’t feel comfortable doing it, you’re in the wrong place, get out.” The thing is, there’s probably a few relationships one will have in their life where they can feel comfortable not going to bed without “kissin’ goodnight.” In which case, the question actually still remains. 

    So maybe it’s better to extrapolate one other brief kernel from Eternal Sunshine. Specifically the one on “we can’t be friends (wait for you)” where there remains a hint of the sologamist as Grande self-soothes, “Me and my truth, we sit in silence/Baby girl, it’s just me and you.” Sounds a lot like the way she talks to herself on “thank u, next,” assuring, “I met someone else/We havin’ better discussions/I know they say I move on too fast/But this one gon’ last/‘Cause her name is Ari/And I’m so good with that.”

    As for the men that provide an “interlude” in between the core relationship she has with herself, well, they certainly offer solid gold inspiration no matter what they look like. And besides, as Grande also says on the abovementioned song, “I don’t wanna argue, but I don’t wanna bite/My tongue, yeah, I think I’d rather die/You got me misunderstood/But at least I look this good.” Amen. Now please resume the recitation of your Eternal Sunshine hymnal without wondering why Grande failed to include, “I’m just a fucked-up girl who’s lookin’ for my own peace of mind; don’t assign me yours” somewhere on the record. Alas, Halsey already did that on 2020’s Manic (in addition to naming one of the songs on it “clementine”).

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Mondo Bullshittio #47: Madonna Not Being on the “yes, and?” Remix, Or: Mariah Carey Not Only Brings Nothing to the “yes, and?” Remix, But She Also Sounds Like An AI Version of Herself

    Mondo Bullshittio #47: Madonna Not Being on the “yes, and?” Remix, Or: Mariah Carey Not Only Brings Nothing to the “yes, and?” Remix, But She Also Sounds Like An AI Version of Herself

    In a series called Mondo Bullshittio, let’s talk about some of the most glaring hypocrisies and faux pas in pop culture…and all that it affects.

    As Mariah Carey has been trending with “the kids” these days (mainly because Miley Cyrus bowed down to her while being presented with the Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance, even though Carey announced her name as “Mirey” instead of “Miley”), it’s only natural that Ariana Grande should return to collaborating with her (having previously featured on yet another remix in 2020…for Carey’s 2010 song, “Oh Santa!”). Except that, well, it’s not really natural at all for a remix of “yes, and?,” which, if anything, should include contributing vocals from Madonna, the pop star that Grande borrows most heavily from for the single (apart from Paula Abdul…but only for the accompanying music video’s visuals). Because, needless to say, “yes, and?” is extremely influenced by “Vogue.” Which Madonna herself borrowed from the gay Black and Latino community of ballroom dancers in the late 80s. Because, as many are still aware, Madonna was the only mainstream artist at that time willing to showcase, promote and generally associate with gay men during a period when it was anathema to do so thanks to the AIDS pandemic. We all know Mariah damn sure wasn’t doing that shit, especially since she was doing her best at the outset of her career to not be branded as a Black artist, least of all liberally associate in public with gay Black people.

    Accordingly, Mariah, while Blacker than Madonna (obviously), doesn’t really have a place to comfortably assert herself within the spirit of this song. Not just because it’s evident that she’s struggling to find a moment on the remix where her vocals can actually shine (without fully upstaging Grande’s—though upstaging has never seemed to be a problem for Carey), but because she also comes across like an AI-sounding version of herself. Perhaps in a bid not to be compared to Grande, Carey goes a few octaves lower than we’re used to hearing as Grande hits all of her usual high notes. Sure, the two harmonize at the beginning for an effect that could bring all the dolphins to shore, but, as the song commences, Carey gets totally lost in the shuffle of Grande’s dominating voice. 

    While the point of adding Carey into the equation might have been, among other reasons (apart from making certain gay men splooge), to highlight their comparable vocal stylings and talents, the result is, instead, underscoring Grande’s vocal prowess compared to her “mentor’s.” An effect, as many snarky critics would be quick to point out, that wouldn’t have happened with the likes of Madonna contributing to the track. And no, it’s not “just” because she doesn’t have the same vocal range as Carey, but because her voice is different enough from Grande’s to actually complement it. And since the implications of a remix are that a song is actually going to stand apart from its original with either different music or a collaborator that’s noticeable (as was the case on Grande’s “34+35 Remix”), “yes, and?” falls short in many regards. 

    Being that Carey’s genre range has never gone far beyond the limits of “adult contemporary,” pop and R&B (while allowing occasional rap features on her pop songs), she seems totally at sixes and sevens when tasked with blending in seamlessly to the dance-centric rhythms of house music. Her one additional verse contribution also lands flatly with regard to “serving,” and, indeed, even reads like it was generated by AI as well: “I’m so done with sharing/This hypocrisy with you/Baby, you have been rejected/Go back, no more pretending, bye.” It’s almost like a bad imitation, lyrically, of Beyoncé shouting, “Tell him, ‘Boy, bye’” on “Sorry.” 

    The fact that nearly every outlet that’s reviewed the original “yes, and?” has called out the noticeable homage Grande gives to Madonna on this song adds to the overall feeling of how thudding this remix sounds. Because, (yours) truly, if anyone was going to help with the remix, it ought to have been Madonna. Carey could have easily been put on ice (something she’s used to vis-à-vis Christmas storage) for a different remix of another song that might have actually worked better for her vocals. What’s more, while Grande may have already paid the ultimate compliment to Madonna by casting her as God for the “God Is A Woman” video, that Grande selected someone for “yes, and?” who has been so blatant about her contempt for the Queen of Pop in the past (as recently as all the shade thrown in her autobiography, The Meaning of Mariah Carey) is yet another pouring of salt in the wound of not “tapping” M to be involved with this homage to “Vogue” more directly.

    In any case, perhaps Madonna is still too busy with The Celebration Tour/riding high on the success of her feature on The Weeknd’s “Popular” to be concerned with this rather overt slight/misjudgment.

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • “Yes, And?” Video Pays Unexpected Tribute to Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted”

    “Yes, And?” Video Pays Unexpected Tribute to Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted”

    “I miss the old Ari. You know, the singer.” So says one of the many invitees (all critics) to Ariana Grande’s performance art piece in Montauk (the location of which is given via the latitude and longitude coordinates on the business card shown at the beginning of the video). This milieu being significant because Grande’s seventh album is titled Eternal Sunshine—an obvious nod to Michel Gondry’s beloved 2004 film of the (almost) same name. Considering Grande’s dating history, the premise of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is rather on point. As is her choreo (courtesy of Will Loftis) throughout the heavily-inspired-by-Paula Abdul video. Indeed, one might as well call “yes, and?” a “modern update” to Abul’s 1989 video for “Cold Hearted,” the fifth single from her debut album, Forever Your Girl. 

    Directed by none other than David Fincher, “Cold Hearted” continued the trend (established by Madonna, as usual) of pop stars dancing in front of elaborate industrial set pieces (see: the “Express Yourself” video, also directed by David Fincher, and the “Rhythm Nation” video). “yes, and?” builds on that by centering the premise around a “living art exhibition,” of sorts. So it is that, just as is the case in “Cold Hearted,” “yes, and?” offers a caption at the beginning. But instead of reading, “Tuesday 9:45 a.m. The Rehearsal Hall. The Record Company Executives Arrive,” it reads, “11:55 AM. The Critics Arrive.” All of them with something snarky to say (in the spirit of the intro to Missy Elliott’s “Gossip Folks”). Including two critics who have the exchange, “Did she really do that?” “Well I read it on the internet so it must be true.” This replacing the once more relevant go-to line of sarcasm: “I saw it on TV so it must be true.” 

    They then enter the warehouse-y space where a series of “stone sculptures” stand in highly deliberate poses as the critics take their seats. The “Ari sculpture” is at the center of them all, posed with her hands over her eyes to indicate the classic “see no evil” philosophy. Or, in this case, “see no haters.” As the critics start to get impatient with what they’re supposed to be getting out of this little “exhibit,” the sculptures break apart and fall to the ground as the actual people they’re modeled after appear on the scene. Directed by Christian Breslauer (marking his first collaboration with Grande), the camera then focuses in on Grande’s feet before panning up the length of her legs to then reveal an aesthetic that is entirely reminiscent of Keira Knightley’s in Love Actually. Because what is Ari if not adept in the art of pastiche (though perhaps not as much as her one-time collaborator, Lana Del Rey)? As any post-post-post-post-post-post-modern pop star tends to be. 

    Continuing to emulate Abdul and co.’s fierce, defiant choreography, Grande offers occasional moments of “Renaissance painting poses” to keep reiterating the notion of being living art. Or, as Del Rey said, “I had a vision of making my life a work of art.” As such, that technically means she can be critiqued herself as much as the art she actually puts out. Hence, the presence of the critics subbing out Paula Abdul’s record executives. 

    Critics who can’t help “gagging” when Grande urges, “And if you find yourself in a dark situation/Just turn on your light and be like/Yes, and?” The musical breakdown just before she urges people to “turn their light on” sounds a lot like the one in Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy.” But considering Grande is giving a massive homage to dance and house music of the 90s in general (including, of course, Madonna’s “Vogue”), it’s not out of the question that the “nod” is deliberate. At the moment she talks about people turning their (inner) lights on, a heating lamp lights up above the critics’ head, as though to envelop them in the same warm glow she’s chosen to bask in no matter what gets said about her. Some critics don’t exactly “like” it, with one starting to sweat profusely as he wipes his forehead with a napkin in a manner that could also indicate Grande’s body (“too thin” or not) is getting him hot and bothered (the same way Paula Abdul gets the record executives in her video).

    As all the art critics proceed to start removing articles of clothing under the heat of the lamp, Grande approaches with, let’s call it an “aura tuning fork,” as she calmly recites the bridge of the song: “My tongue is sacred, I speak upon what I like/Protected, sexy, discerning with my time/Your energy is yours and mine is mine/What’s mine is mine/My face is sitting, I don’t need no disguise/Don’t comment on my body, do not reply.”

    Of course, that demand likely won’t stop the usual barrage of body commentary that rakes in the millions for the beauty and fashion industries. In the final line of the bridge, Grande then wields her coup de ​​grâce, “Why do you care so much whose dick I ride/Why?” Probably because the dick is Ethan Slater’s and it’s kind of weird/non sequitur (Wicked co-star or not). Even more than choosing “Cold Hearted” as a piece of pop culture to emulate. 

    But anyway, the “yes, and?” then concludes with another shot re-creation from the “Cold Hearted” video, with the curtain dropping off the window while Ariana and co. return to their same positions as statues made of stone to then await the next batch of critics they’ll perform for. The first batch, meanwhile, has turned from the stone statues they were before walking into the warehouse and into warm hearted lovers of Ariana as one of them shouts with delight to the others going in, “You’ll just love it! You’ll love it.”

    The same “conversion” from hater to lover goes for the record executives in “Cold Hearted,” who enter the building with the cynical exchange, “So have you even seen this dance?” “Uh, I haven’t but, uh, it’s a Bob Fosse kind of thing. It’s gonna be really really hot.” “Yeah but tastefully. It’s tastefully hot. And hey, if there’s any problem, we can always make changes.” The director of the video nervously reminds, “Uh, we’re shootin’ tonight.” But of course, there’s no need to change a thing because, by the end (just as it is the case in “yes, and?”), the execs are left with their jaws dropped. Though, of course, all they can say is it was “nice.” So it is that Abdul’s video concludes with the caption, “The dancers laugh.” Probably at the fact that it’s so hard for critics to admit when something is good (though, in their defense, that’s quite possibly because things rarely are). Especially when the artist in question’s personal life has a tendency to cloud the focus on the work itself. 

    In this sense, pulling from Paul Abdul’s video arsenal does make some sense when tying this message back into the concept of the “Cold Hearted” premise.

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Madonna and Improv Influence Ariana Grande’s “Yes, And?” 

    Madonna and Improv Influence Ariana Grande’s “Yes, And?” 

    For a minute there, Ariana Grande had a reputation for releasing new music as frequently as Rihanna once did (the singer-turned-makeup mogul could formerly be relied on for an album a year). That reached an apex in the time period between summer of 2018 and winter of 2019, when Grande famously released the one-two punch of Sweetener and thank u, next in the span of six months. Part of that rapidity stemmed from being creatively inspired by the storm of personal events that transpired in the months after Sweetener’s release, including the death of her ex, Mac Miller, and her breakup with then fiancé Pete Davidson (who Grande put on the map, dating-wise). Grande’s prolificness didn’t let up in 2020 either, when she gave the world a prime example of “pandemic pop” in the form of the Positions album. 

    Soon after the release of that record, Grande announced her engagement (again) to “celebrity (a.k.a. luxury) realtor” Dalton Gomez. This was also after the news that she had been cast as Glinda in the film version of Wicked (because turning musicals based on movies into musical movies is all the rage now). A project that also consumed her enough for her to announce that she would not release new music until production was over. Now, going on four years since Positions was released, Grande is ready to reintroduce herself. And, of course, throw some shade at one of the latest scandals to have affected her “brand” in the headlines: that she’s a homewrecker willing to wreck a home for someone who looks like Ethan Slater, her co-star in Wicked (who, appropriately, plays a munchkin with a crush on her). As for Slater’s high school sweetheart, Lilly Jay, the two divorced soon after the announcement of Grande’s relationship, with Jay commenting, “[Ariana’s] the story really. Not a girl’s girl. My family is just collateral damage.” And yet, even to Jay, Grande would likely quip, “Yes, and?” That two-word phrase being most known for its association with improv philosophy until now. 

    What’s more, the “and what?” (just a synonym for “yes, and?”) vibe of it is also associated with another pop star. The mother of all pop stars, as it were: Madonna (someone Ari is no stranger to collaborating with). Because, indeed, it isn’t just the sound of the song that emulates Madonna’s house-inspired “Vogue” stylings (something Beyoncé also wanted to resuscitate recently with “Break My Soul” [cue another “Queens Remix” instead featuring Ariana and Madonna] and Renaissance as a whole). It’s also the “I don’t give a fuck what you think” aura that Madonna has exuded, specifically, since 1985, after nude photos of her from her pre-fame days were sold to Playboy and Penthouse. Rather than cowering in shame or “apologizing,” as was usually the case in those days, Madonna was the first woman to stand up for herself in such a scenario and say simply, “So what?” Deciding that what she did for money before she was famous was her own business, and she oughtn’t be judged for it, even if the photos were splashed across these glossy men’s magazines for all to see. This unprecedented reaction on the part of a slut-shamed famous woman prompted the iconic New York Post headlines: “Madonna on Nudie Pix: So What!” and “Madonna: ‘I’m Not Ashamed,’ followed by the subtitle, “Rock star shrugs off nudie pix furor.” (Both front pages that would be “arti-ified” by Keith Haring and Andy Warhol.) With those simple two words, Madonna paved the way for Grande’s own: “yes, and?” 

    Of course, the danger of that is how people will now start using it to justify objectively egregious acts, like, say, murder (just imagine how bad “yes, and?” would be received if Israel suddenly started adopting it as its mantra while bombing Palestine, or if Russia did the same in its actions toward Ukraine). And yes (not to be confused with yes, and), we do live in a society where certain kinds of murder are glorified, even applauded (see: Gypsy-Rose Blanchard). Certain kinds of grotesque behavior in general, mostly related to the debasing things people will do for money. One might even say, in her allyship, Grande is ultimately hollerin’ for a dollar when she says, “Boy, come on, put your lipstick on (no one can tell you nothin’).” Because obviously it benefits her makeup brand’s sales to encourage all genders to wear it. Being an “ally” in the process is just an added bonus. 

    In addition to alluding to her “homewrecking” ways (though nothing will ever compare to the homewrecker’s anthem that is Marina and the Diamonds’ “Homewrecker”), Grande also references her body being commented upon back in April of 2023. When she chose to respond to the wave of comments about how “thin” and “unhealthy” she looked with a video. One in which she stated, “I think we should be gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies, no matter what [Billie Eilish had a similar, blunter statement to make on “Not My Responsibility”]… You never know what someone is going through. So even if you are coming from a loving place and a caring place, that person is probably working on it.” This comes back again in “yes, and?” when she sings, “Don’t comment on my body, do not reply.” Not to mention the Britney-centric declaration, “Your business is yours and mine is mine” (it all has the decidedly tongue-in-cheek tone of Spears’ “Piece of Me” video).

    Grande’s positivity doesn’t extend just to the body, but also to finding light in dark situations (a running motif in her work since Sweetener, when she repeated, “The light is coming to give back everything the darkness stole” on “The Light Is Coming”). Thus, she urges, “Yes, and?/Say that shit with your chest.” In other words, stick out your chest with pride (another subtle gay allyship allusion), hold your head high, etc. Grande then adds, perhaps anticipating the fallout for daring to live one’s “most authentic life,” “Be your own fuckin’ best friend.” It’s a sentiment that echoes the sologamist verse on “thank u, next” (indeed, Ari appears to want “yes, and?” to make even more direct reference to that track when she sings, “Keep moving like, ‘What’s next?’). The one that goes, “I ain’t worried ’bout nothin’/Plus, I met someone else/We’re havin’ better discussions/I know they say I move on too fast/But this one gon’ last/‘Cause her name is Ari/And I’m so good with that.” As she also seems to be on “yes, and?”—even if currently “riding the dick” that is Ethan Slater’s. A tabloid tidbit she addresses with, “Why do you care so much whose dick I ride?/Why?” Probably because celebrity worship/envy and the according “need” to know everything about their personal lives has been an ongoing part of our culture at least since the dawn of film.

    In truth, celebrities would probably be a bit disappointed if no one cared whose dick they were riding, but that’s another story/psychological analysis. Besides, no one wants to “overthink” too much with a song like this playing, its infectious house rhythms (ready-made for striking poses on the ballroom dance floor courtesy of production from Grande, Max Martin and ILYA) likely to infiltrate LGBTQIA+ spaces the world over in no time. 

    To be sure, the release of new Ari music always feels best at the beginning of a year, as thank u, next did. Punctuating it with so much initial hope before people start to notice a few months in that shit is not only still the same, it’s probably getting worse. To which government officials might riposte, “Yes, and?”

    Genna Rivieccio

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