The Recovery of 2016: Ariana Grande

[DiscoHeaven23 35,007]

An opinion piece by me: 

 

When Ariana Grande dropped what was to be the lead single of her 3rd studio album at the end of October 2015, the song was met with a lukewarm reception. The song was “Focus” and many were annoyed with Jamie Foxx’s role in the song and its similarity to “Problem". Of course Ariana’s fans turned out the first week and bought the song, helping it debut at #7. However, the song never saw the top 10 again. The radio wasn’t playing the song like it had played her previous singles and despite a visually pleasing music video, the song didn’t last more than 13 weeks on the chart. 

As time went on it was clear Ariana was taking things in a new direction. She changed the name of her 3rd album from Moonlight to Dangerous Woman. In March of this year she released "Dangerous Woman" as a single (at the time it was unclear if this was the lead single or the second single). "Dangerous Woman" had a debut that was similar to “Focus”, if not worse. Again, thanks to Ariana’s loyal fanbase the song debuted at #10 (below “Focus”’s #7 spot). In the weeks that followed the song steadily dropped down the teens until reaching #21 in its 7th week. While not a flop (more like demi lovato level), it was starting to seem like the Ariana Grande of 2014 was no more. Had donut gate and her expression of “hating American” really harmed her? As the weeks went on “Dangerous Woman” picked up a bit and then its its 11th week the album Dangerous Woman was released. The album debuted at #2 and helped the song reach a new peak of #8. The album was a critical success but wasn’t streaming/selling like Beyonce, Rihanna, or even Meghan Trainor. Meanwhile, "Dangerous Woman" dropped back out of the top 10 the next week, spent a few weeks in the teens, and dropped out of the Hot 100 in its 21st week. Her second single was called "Into You” and has been referred to as one of the best pop songs this year, but the charts didn’t give it that love. “Into You” took 13 weeks to reach the top 20 on the charts, spending 7 weeks there, peaking at #13 and leaving the charts after 24 weeks. A moderate hit at best. 

It seemed like Ariana was falling into the trap that many singers had fallen into before. The trap the gets you after one or two albums and never lets you out to be largely relevant again. That was until “Side to Side”. In the beginning “Side to Side” was simmering in the low teens, but after a few weeks of doing so, it started going north and made it to the top ten. The song has now spent 9 weeks in the Top 10 and has peaked at #4. During this time the album sales and streams of Dangerous Woman have increased. Suddenly everything turned around for Ariana. What seemed like the fall of a popstar 6 months ago has turned into the recovery of a popstar. Ariana tripped, but she got back up and recovered. While her 2014 contemporaries Iggy Azalea and Meghan Trainor suffered blows to their careers in 2016, Ariana’s career persevered and came out strong. 

Perhaps the biggest win for Ariana Grande this year is that she finally seems humbled. I think she learned a lot through donut gate and the stumbling blocks of the past year. And that’s a win for her because it makes her more likable. I’ve been up and down about Ariana since 2013, but I’m really starting to enjoy her again. Keep making pop albums like Dangerous Woman and I’ll be hear to stay. 

 

To see Ariana's entire singles performances go here:

Source: 

 

 

[PeterPan 0]

I never felt like she was in a downward spiral tbh.

[Kesha 595]

 when focus and dangerous woman were released I was freaking out bc of how fast they were dropping. I bought Dangerous Woman (single) a few minutes after release me and my friend stayed up waiting same with BE alright 

i was kinda scared this era was going to flop badly

[Ooolong 4,440]

"Azalia"

Nice post! I never necessarily noticed a decline in her career but that's because during the "My Everything" era I was too busy bopping to the album and replaying the Love Me Harder music video to notice how successful she was (according to members here, at least) .

[PeterPan 0]

I think shes more popular now than in 2014 tbh

[MillionReasons 402]

i love her but she's still not very humble 

[ItsTommyBitch 12,640]

I was never worried about  bae  

[AlexanderLevi2 5,849]

I knew she would make a comeback after a small trip.

I'm guessing her next album will be her Magnum opus and slay us all.

DW was a great improvement from My Everything.

I can't wait for the Queen 

 

[Hades 27,980]

My everything was a hits collection while Dangerous Woman consists of excellent album tracks. She worked very hard and it paid off. Into You deserved better but whatever...

Side to side was a smart move and is her biggest hit since Probem/Bang Bang.

[Anderson123 38,214]

Quality > Quantity

I honestly avoided her music a couple of years ago. Problem, Break Free and Bang Bang were annoying as hell because they were everywhere. Dangerous Woman and Into You are some pretty good songs that I downloaded because I actually enjoy listening to them. Sometimes artists go from way too popular to just right there, but it doesn't mean their music is bad, it's just not being played everywhere, and that's good. I hate overexposure.

I remember people saying she was "over" just because Focus didn't have the same success as Problem (Lets be honest, it was made to be a 2.0 version of it) and Dangerous Woman didn't explode everywhere. She has had moderate chart success as far as I know, but that's okay, she's still releasing singles.

I have not listened to her albums but it seems like she went from catchy singles to good music (even good album tracks).