Our most popular artist, this is Rapid Transit's 17th blog post with at least one Ariana Grande song. A regular on our Top Tunes feature, she can be found time and again on hooked.evd, Run With It, and Monday Mix.
In this list, I tried to cover the arch of her career, while committing to songs I personally enjoy and want to share.
As I write this, Grande is between albums, following the quasi-double album of Sweetener and thank u, next. For a brilliant faux-album combining the two, check out Billboard did here. I bookend the list with songs from each album.
In 2013, at age 20, Grande released Yours Truly, which spawned three singles, "The Way" (featured here), "Baby I," and "Right There." I include "The Way" largely because of Mac Miller's influence on AG, and to demonstrate how her transparency with her personal life is a force in her music. "Wish I could say thank you to Malcom, cuz he was an angel," she sings in "thank u, next," completing a couplet begun with a reference to ex-fiancé Pete Davidson. Miller passed in 2018 at the age of 26.
The following year we get My Everything which, in my mind, crowned her the queen of pop at the time. "Problem," "Break Free," "Love Me Harder" (included here), and "One Last Time" are four singles from this album, any one of which would have been enough for most pop albums.
It's my opinion that Dangerous Woman is her best album to date, and is the album that converted me to a fan. That album works VERY hard. Interestingly, it's her only studio album not to hit the top spot on the Billboard 200. (It peaked at #2.) On the Billboard 200 2016 year-end chart, it ranked 26th, behind some very strong offerings from Adele, Drake, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Taylor Swift. It's my opinion she took it on the chin to release an actually good, long-lasting album, not completely caught up in the popular moment. It was released just before her 24th birthday. It's the sort of album that defines her point of view, and her ability to go beyond the pop-starlet surface.
In this list, I tried to cover the arch of her career, while committing to songs I personally enjoy and want to share.
As I write this, Grande is between albums, following the quasi-double album of Sweetener and thank u, next. For a brilliant faux-album combining the two, check out Billboard did here. I bookend the list with songs from each album.
In 2013, at age 20, Grande released Yours Truly, which spawned three singles, "The Way" (featured here), "Baby I," and "Right There." I include "The Way" largely because of Mac Miller's influence on AG, and to demonstrate how her transparency with her personal life is a force in her music. "Wish I could say thank you to Malcom, cuz he was an angel," she sings in "thank u, next," completing a couplet begun with a reference to ex-fiancé Pete Davidson. Miller passed in 2018 at the age of 26.
The following year we get My Everything which, in my mind, crowned her the queen of pop at the time. "Problem," "Break Free," "Love Me Harder" (included here), and "One Last Time" are four singles from this album, any one of which would have been enough for most pop albums.
It's my opinion that Dangerous Woman is her best album to date, and is the album that converted me to a fan. That album works VERY hard. Interestingly, it's her only studio album not to hit the top spot on the Billboard 200. (It peaked at #2.) On the Billboard 200 2016 year-end chart, it ranked 26th, behind some very strong offerings from Adele, Drake, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Taylor Swift. It's my opinion she took it on the chin to release an actually good, long-lasting album, not completely caught up in the popular moment. It was released just before her 24th birthday. It's the sort of album that defines her point of view, and her ability to go beyond the pop-starlet surface.
- Matt
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