This is laid-back, string-drenched R&B with a spring in its step. While it was her fifth single to enter at the US No 1 spot, Positions eschews the bold pop punch of some of Grande’s other lead singles. Built around a delirious horn riff, it switches the pop playbook by cramming all the hooks into the verses and the gloriously ascending pre-chorus, before an uncredited Big Sean whispers “I got one less problem without you” in the empty space where the chorus should be.
Opening Wannabe-style with the sound of laughter, Problem is a similarly decisive superstar moment. Proof that uplifting self-empowerment anthems don’t have to be delivered at a snail’s pace, the sashaying Be Alright all but struts away from its problems. The best moment happens in the final third when Grande, finally happy to hand her heart over, pleads “never let me run away”.īy her third album, Dangerous Woman, Grande was starting to expand her sonic palette, with this fan favourite elegantly dipping its toe in 90s deep house and vogue culture. Pleading with her to let it all go is Ty Dolla $ign, whose raspy vocals ground Grande’s airy flutter. Over a heartbeat pulse and a luxuriant melody, Grande muses on that feeling of fully giving yourself to someone else, and the fear that it brings. A synthetic blur of jackhammer beats and vertigo-inducing drops, it comes with an inbuilt drunk-at-3am holler via the nonsensical “Now that I’ve become who I really are”. Break Free (2014)Ĭo-produced by Max Martin alongside German EDM practitioner Zedd, Break Free finds Grande loosening that famed high ponytail and charging towards the party. The sound of a star arriving fully formed. Melodies tumbles, Mariah Carey-esque vocal runs rise and fall, while Grande sounds genuinely ecstatic as she and future boyfriend Miller exchange ad-libs. The lead single from Grande’s debut album, Yours Truly, the 00s R&B of The Way bounds around like an excitable puppy.
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