Eternal Sunshine Is a Bright Spot for Pop Music.
Eternal Sunshine is Ariana Grande’s (she/her) seventh studio album. It was released on March 8, 2024. The concept of the album is a reference to the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind starring Jim Carey (he/him), whom Ariana is a big fan of, and Kate Winslet (she/her). The film follows the story of a couple who, after they break up, Kate Winslet’s character Clementine has Jim Carey’s character Joel erased from her memory. Joel then tries to have Clementine removed from his memory.
Eternal Sunshine is classified as a pop album with strong R&B and house music influences. The lead single “yes, and?” and the album single “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” both debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” marks Grande’s seventh number one debut, making her the woman with the most number one debuts in Billboard Hot 100 history.
Ariana posted a reel on her Instagram a month before the album release of her showing the songs to her label Republic Records. In the video she describes some of the songs as “really vulnerable,” and some as “playing the part that people kind of expect me to be sometimes, and having fun with that.”
I thought the album was phenomenal. It is full of catchy dance beats and melancholic contemplations of love. As a massive fan of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I really enjoyed the ways she weaved in themes from the film without directly referencing it in the lyrics. My favorite on the album musically is “the boy is mine.” My favorite song lyrically is “intro (end of the world).” I would give the album a 9/10.
