Tag Archives: Ariana Grande

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Song of the Day #5,731: ‘Eternal Sunshine’ – Ariana Grande

In the mid-2010s I was briefly an Ariana Grande fan. I was particularly enamored of her 2014 album My Everything and its follow-up, 2016’s Dangerous Woman. Dangerous Woman, in particular, is a stellar pop collection.

Then, between 2018 and 2020, Grande put out three straight albums that left me cold. Sweetener was fine but unremarkable. Thank U, Next, despite its massive sales and trio of hit singles, went in a direction I just couldn’t follow. I barely listened to Positions. I pretty much wrote her off.

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Song of the Day #5,407: ‘Die For You’ – The Weeknd & Ariana Grande

Returning to my look at a recent edition of the Billboard Hot 100, today’s track is a collaboration between The Weeknd and Ariana Grande that sits at #6.

‘Die For You’ is a perfect example of how TikTok has reshaped the music industry. This song first appeared on The Weeknd’s 2016 album Starboy and was released as that album’s sixth single. It peaked at #43 on this chart back then and had seemingly run its course.

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Song of the Day #4,969: ‘Just Look Up’ – Ariana Grande feat. Kid Cudi

Continuing my look at the films currently making up slots 11 through 50 on my 2021 list, today I’m focusing on a grab bag of titles from the comedy, family, documentary, sci-fi and horror genres.

My opinions of these movies, and all the movies I’ve mentioned this week, vary widely, but I can say that at the very least I recommend seeing all of them. Tomorrow, I will cover some movies that fall on the other side of the ledger.

In alphabetical order…

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Song of the Day #4,700: ‘Save Your Tears (Remix)’ – The Weeknd & Ariana Grande

I last posted an installment of my ‘What the Kids Are Listening To’ series more than a year ago, before the coronavirus had even reached U.S. soil. The final song back then was The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights,’ sitting at #15 prior to the release of his album After Hours.

‘Blinding Lights’ is at #11 now, after setting a record by becoming the first song in history to spend a full year in Billboard’s Top 10. It holds the record for the most weeks spent in the Top 5, Top 10, Top 20 and Top 40. If only the rest of the world could have had as rewarding a year as that song.

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Song of the Day #3,785: ‘thank u, next’ – Ariana Grande

It took the breakup of Ariana Grande’s engagement to land her her first Billboard #1 single. Just minutes before the episode of Saturday Night Live where Pete Davidson acknowledged the unlikely couple’s split, Grande dropped this sweet ode to her exes.

In the first verse, she namedrops her four celebrity mates: Davidson, rapper Big Sean, dancer Ricky Alvarez, and late rapper Mac Miller. She doesn’t specify which taught her love, patience or pain, or why one of the four apparently didn’t teach her anything.

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