Pitchfork: positions

[COOOK 76,406]

   7.4

"Her third album in two years searches for peace, tracing the quiet work of piecing yourself together and delighting in giddy new romance at the same time."

Spoiler

"During the spring of 2019, in the interval between two titanic releases, Ariana Grande posted her brain on Instagram. The image was from a scan, and it showed regions of her mind lit up from the effects of PTSD, the disorder revealed in clear, screenshot-able form. “That’s why her hair’s so big,” she joked, referencing a line from Mean Girls, “it’s full of trauma.” The grace with which Grande has navigated horrors—the ability to name their impact and steer towards healing, to make a top-charting song about a panic attack—has become fundamental to her music. Sweetener dazzled because its joy was defiant. thank u, next caromed through phases of glee and grief, moving from pink Champagne bravado into stark confessions. Positions, her third album in two years, searches for peace. It traces the quiet work of piecing yourself together, the terror of re-learning how to trust. “All them demons help me see **** differently,” she sings 20 seconds into the album, “so don’t be sad for me.” That statement clears the way for some of the record’s goofier moments; it also functions as a kind of thesis."

"Many of these songs stem from hesitancy, from rejecting risks or articulating their costs, and their production is largely sleek and muted. The flourishes live in the transitions between tracks—the Broadway-eque orchestral burst at the end of “shut up,” the burbling synths that close “obvious.” Grande’s voice remains nestled in a breathy sway, occasionally stretching into a rap-adjacent cadence. If these songs lack the sticking power of her stadium power ballads, there’s still dimension to their glazed reveries. (“west side” in particular is an understated, simmering highlight.) In any other year, “motive” might have been written as an internet-breaking banger (Murda Beatz! Doja Cat!), but here it’s twinkling and hushed. Positions suffers a bit from its sanitized precision, the way slippery harmonies wind around trap-drum exoskeletons; you wonder what the title track would sound like if London on da Track’s presence were actually felt, instead of a fun fact for the credits."

"But maybe this isn’t the place for that. Positions doesn’t broaden Grande’s sound the way her past few albums have, and it isn’t buoyed by a heroic anthem, like “no tears left to cry,” or guided by a specific mission, like how “thank u, next” honored her relationship history. The record resonates partly because it doesn’t weld grand statements out of living with trauma; it narrows in on the wobbly path of pleading with yourself, the begging and bargaining of healing. “I want to trust me the way that you trust me,” Grande belts on “pov,” her voice throbbing and raw. This is the root of every love song on Positions, the ache at the album’s core. It’s the urge to take tangible pain and make something from it, to feel safe—again, at last—in your own head."

Full review here.

Previous scores:

  7.4

 7.9

  8.1

[LilMonst3r 5,544]

Feel it should be lower but glad people are atleast enjoying it. 

[weed 74,402]

52 minutes ago, COOOK said:

throbbing and raw

[Levine 23,699]

Clowns

[vyniildisk 12,689]

Deserved 9 or higher let's be real

[Epione 10,896]

That’s a 4 from me.

[ThisGuyTony 31,086]

Honestly the album kind of came and went.  

Terrible rollout.

[FentyGa 14,340]

tu,n and positions both deserve higher scores tbh but i’ll take it

[Blastertoyo 22,734]

I thought they said piercing yourself

[FfFfFfFF 56,335]

Their generosity era.

[COOOK 76,406]

5 minutes ago, FfFfFfFF said:

Their generosity era.

Then go to Sam Smith's 

 

[Cookie Tookie 10,546]

It’s a 4

[holy scheisse 22,310]

It's a no for me dawg

[Lanadelduck 2,004]

Honestly **** them.  Positions is terrible but they gave Chromatica a 7.3 

[TWICE on hatius 4,746]

9 minutes ago, Lanadelduck said:

Honestly **** them.  Positions is terrible but they gave Chromatica a 7.3 

It’s 0.1 difference . Chill.