Thank U, Next
Thank U, Next (stylized in all lowercase) is the fifth studio album by American singer Ariana Grande, released on February 8, 2019, by Republic Records. It was released six months after her fourth studio album "Sweetener" (2018), created in the midst of Grande's personal struggles, including the death of ex-boyfriend Mac Miller and her breakup with then-fiancé Pete Davidson. Grande began working on the album in October 2018, enlisting writers and producers such as Tommy Brown, Max Martin, Ilya Salmanzadeh and Pop Wansel. With "Thank U, Next", Grande distanced herself from the traditional promotion  cycle that she employed for her previous album releases. Musically, the album is predominantly pop, R&B, and trap, with influences from hip hop. It was described as Grande's most personal record up to that point, with lyrical content which reflected on personal flaws, grief and denial, as well as independence and self-empowerment. The album was preceded by two singles, the title track and "7 Rings", both of which debuted atop the United States "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, becoming Grande's first two number-one songs in the US. "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" became the  third single on the day of the album's release, peaking at number two on the Hot 100. All of the album's 12 tracks entered the Hot 100, with the singles occupying the top three spots, making Grande the first soloist to achieve it. The album topped the charts in various countries, and broke many streaming records upon release, including the records for the largest weekly streams for a pop album and a female album in the United States. It was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and landed at number two on the US  Billboard 200 Year-End chart of 2019. Globally, it was the eighth best-selling album of 2019, and fourth best-selling album by a female artist. Upon its release, "Thank U, Next" garnered critical acclaim, with praise on its cohesiveness, the production and Grande's vulnerability throughout the record. Named by "Rolling Stone", "Billboard" and "People" as 2019's best album, it was included in numerous publications' year-end and decade-end lists. In support of both "Sweetener" and "Thank U, Next", Grande embarked on the Sweetener World Tour, beginning on March 18, 2019. The concert tour was commercially successful , grossing over $146 million from 97 shows. "Thank U, Next" and its songs received nominations for four Grammy Awards, including those for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. Background and recording. In August 2018, singer Ariana Grande's "Sweetener" was released to critical acclaim, her best received album to that point. Grande began contemplating her follow-up as she prepared touring. Republic Records sought to bolster "Sweetener" global rollout by releasing "Breathin" as the third single, but the label abruptly postponed their promotional endeavors when Grande's old friend and ex-boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller, died  from an accidental drug overdose in early September. Grande then took a brief hiatus from the media to record new material. By the following month, the still reticent singer expressed renewed interest in touring, one supporting both "Sweetener" and her forthcoming project, and she soon announced the initial leg of her Sweetener World Tour. At the same time, Grande ended her five-month engagement with comedian Pete Davidson. "Thank U, Next" recording commenced less than two months after the release of "Sweetener". The producers conducted most of their recordings at Jungle City Studios in New York City and scheduled additional  sessions in New York's Right Track Studios, MXM, Conway Recording Studios and The Record Plant in metropolitan Los Angeles, Wolf Cousins Studios in Stockholm, and Entirety Studios in London. The fallout of Miller's death influenced Grande's choice of collaborators. She assembled "Thank U, Next" production team from producers and songwriters with shared rapport to better cope with the trauma. Longtime collaborators Max Martin, Ilya Salmanzadeh, and Tommy Brown composed most of the tracks and shared responsibilities with Charles Anderson, Social House's Michael Foster, among others, in the formation of the music. The development of "Thank U , Next" was unusually swift, but productive. Grande and her team wrote about nine songs in merely a week, and they completed most of the recording after another two weeks. Grande's team always had champagne in the studio, notably Veuve Clicquot, as later referenced in her collaboration with songwriter Victoria Monét, "Monopoly". Monét contributed to six songs, including "Ghostin", the first and simultaneously longest song to develop. Grande found creating "Ghostin" difficult and initially requested the song's exclusion from the final tracklisting. Composition. Music and lyrics. "Thank U, Next" is a pop, R&B and trap record with many influences  of hip hop on its beats and productions. It explores a diversity of other music genres, including dancehall, soul, pop-rap and many urban influences. Rob Sheffield from "Rolling Stone" stated the album ""Thank U, Next" is just a woman and a mood, taking that mood out for a drive until she pedal-to-the-metals it right off a cliff." In an interview with Zach Sang she said: "We walked to the studio everyday, and just made music and it turned everything around in my life. It sounds very corny but it was like, the most beautiful." Songs. The  album begins with the song "Imagine", an R&B ballad with a trap-inspired rhythm. The song features multiple whistle notes, and its lyrics speak about Grande's denial of failed relationships, specifically her relationship with Mac Miller. Mathew Rodriguez from "Out" mentioned that the song "does the double duty of being both a great song and a great introduction." The next track "Needy" is a mid-tempo minimalistic song with a metronome-like synth in the foreground. Its lyrics are about Grande's insecurities in relationships. "NASA," named after the U.S. space agency of the same name, is a "bouncy -R&B tune." The track features a spoken introduction by Shangela, an American drag queen. She says, "One small step for woman, one giant leap for womankind", a variation on Neil Armstrong's quote, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Carolyn Bernucca of "Complex" said, "The standout track, 'NASA,' is punctuated by thumping bass and trap drums that have made their way from Atlanta all the way into mainstream pop." The fourth track is "Bloodline." It is a reggae-pop song with R&B influences that contains brassy horns and a pounding bass. It has  been compared to Grande's 2016 single "Side to Side" and "Greedy" from her third studio album, Dangerous Woman. The song features a sound bite from Marjorie Grande, Grande's grandmother, in which she is talking about a hearing aid. "The Guardian" wrote that the song "posits the idea that maybe it's best to just see how things go relationship-wise and getting engaged after a few months isn't essential", believing that this song is about Pete Davidson. The fifth track off the album is "Fake Smile", a hip hop soul-inspired track with a trap groove. Lyrically , the song is about the attack on her concert in Manchester and the death of ex-boyfriend Mac Miller, and the emotional toll that these events inflicted upon her. Chloe Crookshanks from "Medium" stated that the song is "Weaved in with some funky muted bass, she states candidly her understandable disdain for putting on a show ('fuck a fake smile')". "Bad Idea" is an EDM and trap number, beginning with an 80's rock-ballad intro that garnered comparison to David Guetta's 2012 hit single "Titanium" featuring Sia. With an orchestra throughout the bridge and outro, its lyrics are  about Grande's desire to numb her pain. The seventh track "Make Up" is Grande's most sexually explicit song on the album, featuring many double entendres. It is a trap record with wonky pop and bubblegum influences and it contains a "rap-influenced bridge". "Ghostin", the eighth track, is an emotional synth-and-strings ballad. Lyrically, it discusses Grande's last two relationships, stating that "she should ghost the guy that still makes her cry and wants to stop hurting the person she is with now while he is being patient with her," being Miller and Davidson. Savan Kotecha , who co-wrote the song with Grande, told "Rolling Stone" of working on the track: "[When we were writing] 'Ghostin,' we were in New York... The song speaks for itself in terms of what it's about. We were with her for a week in New York witnessing that, witnessing her feelings on that." "NME" stated that it was "One of the record's most talked-about tracks" and also "one of the album's most devastating moments." According to Grande, she "begged" her manager, Scooter Braun, to remove the track from the album, but he convinced her to keep  it. The ninth track "In My Head" begins with an excerpt of a voicemail from by Grande's close friend Doug Middlebrook. It is a trap-pop hybrid with many R&B influences. "Medium" said that "Grande addresses her failure to see people for who they truly are." "7 Rings," the tenth track, is a trap-pop and R&B song. It features a heavy bass and sees Grande discuss "how global success has allowed her to enjoy the finer things". "Billboard" magazine noted it's "the most hip-hop-leaning song Grande has released in the post-"Sweetener" era yet, with Grande  almost rapping the song's verses". The album's lead single, "Thank U, Next" is the eleventh track on the album. A self-empowerment pop and R&B song with elements of synth-pop, its lyrics discuss many of Grande's past relationships. Grande explained in an interview that "thank u, next..." is a phrase that she and fellow singer/songwriter Victoria Monét use. Markos Papadatos from "Digital Journal" said the song is an "ode to gratitude, an anthem to a fresh start and new beginnings, where she is not afraid to be raw and vulnerable; Grande's vulnerability is the  listener's reward." He also said the song is "sultry, cathartic and expressive" and praised Grande's breathy vocals as "pristine and heavenly, and it is evident the pop throne is still hers. 'thank u, next' garners an A rating." The final track "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" is a trap-pop and R&B song. It was said to be Grande's most eye-catching song from the album. The track replaced "Remember", a song previously planned to be on the album, but was too personal for Grande to release. It samples "It Makes Me Ill" by  NSYNC in the bridge. Release and promotion. "Thank U, Next" was released worldwide on February 8, 2019, by Republic Records, five months and twenty-two days after "Sweetener", which was released on August 17, 2018. On releasing the album so soon after her previous offering, Grande said "my dream has always been to be – obviously not a rapper, but, like, to put out music in the way that a rapper does. I feel like there are certain standards that pop women are held to that men aren't." Commenting on previous release strategies, she explained that "we have to do  the teaser before the single, then do the single, and wait to do the preorder, and radio has to impact before the video, and we have to do the discount on this day, and all this shit. It's just like, 'Bruh, I just want to fucking talk to my fans and sing and write music and drop it the way these boys do. Why do they get to make records like that and I don't?' So I do and I did and I am, and I will continue to." The album cover art, shot by Alfredo Flores, shows  Grande laying upside-down on the floor with the album title painted on her neck. The digital edition cover features a pink border, whilst the physical edition features a black border. Tour. On October 25, 2018, Grande officially announced the Sweetener World Tour, in promotion of both "Thank U, Next" and "Sweetener". The tour began on March 18, 2019, with the first leg consisting of 50 shows across North America. The second leg of the tour began on August 17, 2019, consisting of 30 shows across Europe. The third leg of the tour visited 18 cities across North America and  finished in Inglewood, California at The Forum. Normani and Social House were announced as the opening acts for the first leg of the tour. Singles. The title track was released as the lead single from the album on November 3, 2018, without prior announcements. Commercially, the single was a massive success, peaking at number-one of the charts of 12 countries and breaking a string of records, including the record for the most plays in a single day by a female artist on Spotify. The song also became Grande's first number-one single on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 . She performed the song on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on November 7. Its accompanying music video was released on November 30, which broke the records for both the most-watched music video in YouTube within 24 hours and the fastest Vevo video to reach 100 million views on YouTube. The song spawned an Internet meme, inspired by the lyrics One taught me love/one taught me patience / one taught me pain". In a similar fashion, it has also been used as a slogan. "7 Rings" was released as the second single on January 18, 2019. The track was also commercially  successful, peaking atop of the charts of 15 countries, including the US, debuting atop of the "Billboard" Hot 100, making Grande the third female artist to have two or more songs debuting at the top slot of the Hot 100. This also made Grande the third artist in history to have an album with two songs that debuted at number one on the Hot 100, after Drake's "Scorpion" in 2018 and Mariah Carey's "Daydream" in 1995. "7 Rings" also broke the record for the most streamed song in 24 hours on Spotify, receiving 14.9 million streams globally. It  received generally mixed reviews from music critics, and was the center of plagiarism accusations from multiple artists. "7 Rings" was also nominated for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" was released as the third single on February 8, 2019, the same day the album was released. The song debuted atop of the charts in Ireland and the United Kingdom. In the latter, Grande became the first female artist to replace herself at number one on the chart, and joined only three other artists  in having three chart-topping singles in under 100 days. As the track became her fifth number-one single in Ireland, Grande now also holds the record for the most number ones in the 2010s decade on the chart, alongside Rihanna. "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" debuted at number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming Grande's 13th top ten single on the chart. With this single at number two, "7 Rings" at number one and "Thank U, Next" at number three, Grande became the first artist to monopolize the top three on the chart since  The Beatles in 1964. Promotional single. "Imagine" was released as the album's only promotional single on December 14, 2018. Grande performed the song on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on December 18. Critical reception. Upon release, "Thank U, Next" received widespread acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 86 based on 24 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim"; it is the highest Metascore for any of Grande's albums. Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stone" stated that "Thank U, Next" is "one  of the year's best pop albums so far, even in a 2019 that's already turning out to be a great one for new music. "Thank U, Next" makes you suspect that the best Ariana is yet to come." Ross Horton from "The Line of Best Fit" praised both the songwriting and production of the album, stating that it is an "airtight, dense pop record with an obnoxiously brash production" and commenting that "even the most delicate, sensual things here are tightly compressed and scrubbed of anything resembling acoustics." AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine also gave the album a  positive review, commenting that "Grande is swaggering with [...] confidence" and concluding that the album "embodies every aspect of Ariana Grande, the grand pop star." Mikael Wood of the "Los Angeles Times" said, ""Thank U, Next" flaunts Grande's emotional healing; it's suffused with the joy of discovering that what didn't kill her really did make her stronger." Michael Cragg of "The Guardian" commented that "Thank U, Next" seems to be a "result of a burst of creativity and a prevailing mood", yet criticized "7 Rings" as a "braggadocious, ice-cold low point" of the album. He concluded positively , stating that Grande is a "pop star [...] finally working out who they are and what they want to say" and compared the album to Rihanna's "Anti". Helen Brown from "The Independent" stated that Grande is "embracing her inner mean girl (on the sexy "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored") [and] owning her flaws and contradictions" on tracks such as "Needy" and "NASA", yet concluded that the album lacks enough "vocal grit". Sal Cinquemani from "Slant Magazine" awarded the album three-and-a-half stars out of five, believing that the album "is easily Grande's most sonically  consistent effort to date". He criticized that "some of the [...] tracks tend to blur together", but ultimately concluded in saying that Grande's "refusal to fake a smile that proves to be what makes her so damn likeable." In a capsule review for "Vice", Robert Christgau gave the album a three-star honorable mention () and summed it up as Grande's "maturing from multitracked studio trickeration to straight love songs—love songs an old grouch might complain are all too superstar-specific"; the title track and "Ghostin'" were cited as highlights. "Thank U, Next" was named as one of the  best albums of 2019. "MTV" named it as one of the ten albums of 2019, stating that the album "unpacks love, lust, and pain in a metallic pop coating. It's cooler, weirder, and deeper than "Sweetener", and manages to make that project look shockingly surface-level". "Billboard" ranked "Thank U, Next" as their number best album of 2019, stating that "the pop princess officially became a queen". This was also the second consecutive year that "Billboard" ranked Grande's album as the best of year after naming the artist's previous album, "Sweetener", as their number one best album  of 2018. "Billboard" complimented Grande's liberation to guilt, emotional restraint and independence, they said "in the aftermath of her personal struggles from that year, she found solace in the studio, sipping champagne with her friends and collaborators, while writing and recording the best album of her career in just two weeks" and praised Grande's album as if ""The First Wives Club" was an album". "Thank U, Next" placed on "Billboard"'s decade end album's list "The 100 Greatest Albums of the 2010s", at number 8. Commercial performance. In the United States, "Thank U, Next" debuted at number -one on the US "Billboard" 200 chart, with 360,000 album-equivalent units moved, out of which 116,000 were pure sales. It became Grande's fourth number-one album in the country, and broke the record for the largest streaming week ever for a pop album with 307 million on-demand audio streams. On the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, issue dated February 20, all twelve songs from "Thank U, Next" appeared simultaneously; eleven of those songs appeared in the top 40, breaking the record for the most simultaneous top 40 entries by a female artist. In its second week, the album  remained atop the chart, earning an additional 151,000 units with 20,000 pure album sales and 168.6 million on-demand streams, becoming Grande's first album to spend two weeks at number one. The album has spent 19 non-consecutive weeks in the top ten of the "Billboard" 200. On June 15, 2020, "Thank U, Next" was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) exceeding two million units in the US. As of June 2020, the album has sold 302,000 copies in the country. In the United Kingdom, "Thank U, Next" debuted at number one on the  UK Albums Chart with 65,000 album-equivalent units. The album became Grande's third number-one on the chart and marked her largest album opening week to date there. Earning 59 million streams, "Thank U, Next" set a new record for most album streams ever by a female artist in a week in the country, beating her previous album, "Sweetener". Following its release, "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, replacing "7 Rings", with the latter returning to number one the following week, making Grande the first female solo artist  since Madonna in 1985 to simultaneously hold the number one and two spots on the UK Singles Chart and the first musical artist to replace herself twice consecutively at number one in UK chart history. Also, "Needy" peaked at number eight on the chart. "Thank U, Next" also was 2019's third fastest-selling download by a female artist in UK, behind Taylor Swift's "Lover" and Pink's "Hurts 2B Human". In Ireland, the album also became Grande's third number one on the Irish Albums Chart, outselling the rest of the top five combined with nearly 5,389 units  (according to Official Charts Company). Upon its release, "Thank U, Next" became the only female album this decade to feature three Irish number-one singles. Following the success of the album, "Sweetener" (2018) arose three places to number 8, and "Dangerous Woman" (2016) re-entered the top fifty at number 43. In Australia, the album debuted at number one on the Australian Albums Chart, becoming Grande's fourth number one in the territory. All twelve album tracks also appeared on the ARIA Singles Chart, including nine debuts. "Thank U, Next" has sold more than 1 million pure copies worldwide. It  was the eighth best-selling album of 2019 globally and ranked fourth among female artists. Grande also ranked as the sixth best-selling artist of 2019 globally and third among female artists. Personnel. Credits adapted from Tidal and the album's liner notes.