"Positions" is unfocussed and often tedious, says The Fader

[TheSlash 14,539]

22 hours ago, Bambino said:

these songs dissolve into a swamp of icy drum hits and aimless melisma.

THIS. All the songs were merging into one and pretty much sounded the same  .

[Monsieur D 2,878]

They are not lying though.

I LOVE ARIANA and I think that Sweetener and TUN are great albums. 

"Sweetener" is a grower. "TUN" was more like love at first listen.

It was pretty hard for her to top those albums, and she doesn't have to, those are her magnum opus.

I don't think that Positions is a bad album (by any means), but it's kinda boring... it lacks of BIG songs (like GIAW, NTLTC, Breathin, GWS, GAG, TUN, 7 Rings, Imagine... you know what I mean, bangers), all the songs sound the same.

[Killa 14,403]

21 hours ago, Ronk said:

Criticisms are based on people's tastes, thoughts, and opinions.  Even if it were nothing new, understated, trend-following, and basic, I still like it.  I don't understand why people keep wanting something new from artists when their old work is really great.   Can't wait till she tours the album, after covid oc.

I have not listened to it but this is a very important point. 

You def dont need to get out of the sound and style you created. Its just that everyone on media expects something new and fresh blah blah. 

Theres only so much you can grow and change. Probably now releases will be more like this. More albums, more similar and maybe only 2 or 3 theres really a stand out. 

Its healthier for the artists

[palma 2,170]

The title track, my hair, doja feature and  pov are the stronger tracks on this bunch although i feel we won’t be seeing many singles off of this album as post album singles don’t tend to do very well nowadays.

Most songs have similar instruments and production and while you could interpret that as sonically cohesive, to me it felt more like a one-note... 

I’m having similar mixed emotions when I first listened sweetener although that album had much superior singles... I see some growth in positions, strings for instance, add a nice touch to the whole record and she does wondrous things with her vocals. I don’t want to go into lyrics cuz lbr I couldn’t understand a thing and I am too lazy to check them.

Overall I don’t see much replay value in this album sadly. Maybe it’s because I’m not a big fan of this trap/rn’b sound... I kinda wish she had put the best ones in the record into an EP and had released it as a tastemaker. The idea of this as whole fledged era doesn’t really align with my fantasy and a new one to follow shortly after would make her a bit too overexposed at this point.

A misstep to me. 

[Babel 40,887]

I don’t understand the constant need to highlight the negatives of everything. I guess it fills a void on some people.