Album Review: Positions – Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande in her music video for "positions"

Just a year after the near back-to-back release of Sweetener and then Thank U, Next, Ariana Grande’s sixth studio album Positions was released on October 30th of this year, barely two weeks after she announced the release of the album in a surprise tweet. The album was preceded by the release of the lead single, Positions. The album is currently sitting at a user rating of 7.6 on Metacritic. Compared to her other albums, Positions’ standing is pretty much par for the course rather than an exception, it seems. Grande’s album consists of 14 tracks and features Doja Cat, The Weeknd, and Ty Dolla $ign.

Unlike Grande’s other albums, Positions is entirely focused around sexual empowerment and romantic ventures. “34+35”, “nasty”, and the lead single “positions” all contribute heavily to the album’s themes, all having to do with various forms of sexual encounters. Grande is not typically known for exploring sexual prowess, but the change, while unexpected, is an intriguing change for the pop star. The album’s heavy hitters include “my hair”, “love language”, and “positions”. The first two songs stand out amongst the rest of the songs on the album because they are a very different song for Grande and represent the beginnings of an evolution for the artist, moving away from Pop and further into R&B, something that has been slowly taking place since the release of Sweetener, which was the artist’s purely pop album. Unlike “my hair” and “love language”, however, “positions” is classic Ariana Grande. Whistle tones, familiar riffs and runs, and a catchy melody make up the song. As signature traits of Grande’s discography, “positions” is nothing new but it’s still fun to listen to. In fact, “positions” is not the only stereotypical Grande-ism laden song, however, it is the best.

In fact, much of Positions is disappointingly cookie-cutter. With a few exceptions, Positions is far too similar to past works to represent any major growth on the part of Grande as an artist. The addition of overt sexual themes over romantic ones is certainly something that captures one’s attention, but it’s hard to parse that element of the album out when most of the album sounds painfully similar. In fact, with the exception of maybe five or so songs, it’s ridiculously difficult to recall the melodies of most of the songs on the album, even after just having to listened to them. Positions is by no means a bad album, but it is rather disappointing in that it insists on teetering on the edge of R&B rather than diving headfirst into the genre and exploring new melodies, phrases, and tones. As a pretty passive fan of Ariana Grande, the album is good. Not bad, not great, just good. It’s not something that commands attention or multiple listen-throughs unless you’re a diehard fan of Grande’s music, but it does do some fun things and it has several catchy tracks that anyone and everyone can listen to.

Rating: 7.8/10