Funny how Mozart has been real quiet since Ariana dropped the deluxe version of her highly-acclaimed sixth album Positions - delivering some of her finest vocal work and sonically, her best album to date.
Completing a trilogy of albums that started with Sweetener last 2018, we take a dive into Positions´ newest tracks and see if it is a worthy finale to Ariana´s most career-defining eras to date:
Test Drive
The deluxe album starts off with immediate fan favorite Test Drive, an uptempo pop-R&B track that is almost reminiscent of Christmas. Here, Ariana compares her relationship with her lover to purchasing a car. Their relationship is so sure that it doesn´t need any ¨test drives¨ to prove that he truly is ¨the one¨. It is fitting considering Ariana has been engaged to real estate agent boyfriend Dalton Gomez last December 2020, and they seem to show no signs of slowing down soon.
In the pre-chorus, Ariana harmonizes with herself by layering her voice on top of her own and suddenly - my skin is clear, my crops are thriving, I have 20/20 vision, I´m passing my classes, I have a reason to live and world order is restored. Wow, she sounds amazing.
34+35 Remix
Ariana then enlists reigning princesses of rap, Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion, for the playful and saucy ¨34+35 Remix¨, which should be my favorite out of the four because I am always a hoe for pussy-popping gay anthems but sadly failed to be up to par to what an Ariana Grande, Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion collab should be.
Though decent enough, the track amazingly manages to sound both like a snoozefest and a clogged mess. Doja is a true chameleon and sounds good in everything she features in, whether it be hardcore hip-hop collab or a pop smash hit. This track is no different. Megan´s verse is a little harder to digest but eventually grows on you once you replay the song quite enough. Ariana sounds amazing as always but a cute rap verse or a new chorus with her harmonizing with Doja or Megan would´ve shook the table a little bit - the lack of new spice from her in this remix made the track sound lazy and tired. Overall, it still sounds good. Just not Beyonce´s Savage Remix level of great.
Worst Behavior
The moment I heard the jazz in the intro and heard Ariana say ¨I been on my worst behavior¨, I started thinking about how much my kidneys would be worth in the black market. Because there is no way, no way in hell - I am not seeing this live. The obvious magnum opus of the four, this is literal ear cocaine. A throwback to her Dangerous Woman roots, it sounds like a matured, more successful, more self-assured version of that Ariana from years ago.
The chorus feels like those candies from childhood that slowly burst in your mouth as Ariana layers her sweet voice with seductive slow talking and the jazz piano hits harder and harder. An easy Top 5 on the Positions album. You could play this anywhere and my wig will be orbiting to Saturn.
Main Thing
The only one self-written out of the four tracks, Main Thing is an intimate love letter to her fiance Dalton Gomez about growing old together. A line from the track with me was ¨All I wanna do is spend my time with you, even when the learning´s done and nothing´s new.¨ I think, if you´re experienced falling in love and wanting to be with that person for the rest of your life, you´ll understand exactly why. Because at the end of the day, that's what love is. Staying with the person for who they are and not the kilig moments. Ariana has found the love of her life and this song reveals just that. Like the popstar she is, the track is an open book. It's soft. It's honest. It's in love. It makes me weep. Damn, Ariana could sing about dandruff or the injustices of the criminal justice system and I would still cry like a little baby.
Taking the top position
The deluxe tracks have a notable departure from the rest of the album´s earlier tracks in terms of lyrical content. It talks less about 69-ing and more about accepting love as it is, which is fresh and a welcomed change on this album. Surprisingly, this album doesn´t have many of her gut-crushing breakup ballads and signature style of topping melancholy lyrics about loneliness and grief with upbeat trap beats.
Positions Ariana is obviously in a much better place than Sweetener Ariana or Thank U, Next Ariana. And though lyrically, the album doesn't do much to broaden Ariana´s music like her past albums have, the deluxe tracks definitely make up for that and show the substantial growth that she has experienced over the years. Overall, Ariana always makes her best music when she´s in love, happy, and getting lots of sex - there is no better reflection of that than Positions.
━━ Written By Samantha Han
