Better Days Ahead with Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine Deluxe

Elena Hernandez - Music Editor

Last year on March 8, Ariana Grande dropped her seventh studio album Eternal Sunshine. The record has topped charts across the world since then.

In the U.S., it debuted atop the Billboard 200, making it her sixth to do so. All thirteen of its tracks simultaneously charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Grande became the woman with the most number-one debuts when its first two out of three singles, “yes, and?” and “we can’t be friends (wait for your love),” debuted at the Hot 100 #1 spot. It was her second album to spawn multiple #1 hits, Grande became the first woman in the U.S. to achieve the feat.

Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Better Days Ahead was released on March 28. With five brand-new tracks, Grande continues the story she started over a year ago. In “twilight zone,” Grande expresses shock towards her marriage ending while admitting she’d never change a thing. “Sometimes I just can’t believe you happened,” she sings. “warm” is Grande’s invitation to her love interest: “If you dare, meet me there/ I’ll be higher than the exosphere.”

In “dandelion” Grande compares herself to one of our favorite weeds. She suggests her lover “plant this seed” and promises to provide any wish they’d like. “past life” showcases Grande’s powerful vocals as she sings of leaving her former lover behind. “You think I’m lost but that’s just how you found me/ Well, maybe I’m the stranger after all,” she belts before the chorus kicks in.

“Hampstead” is referred to by Grande as “one of [her] favorite songs [she’s] ever written.” The track goes by the name of the same area in London that Grande lived in during the filming of Wicked. In it, she declares: “I would rather feel everything than nothing every time.”