Ariana Grande Sombre London Show Felt Like A Goodbye

[RAMROD 117,338]

Ariana Grande has spent the last 18 months talking about disappearing. During podcast appearances in 2024 and 2025, she discussed her plans to slow down and fade out, and described her then-forthcoming Eternal Sunshine tour – her first run of live shows since 2019 – as a “last hurrah”. Often, her own interest in being Ariana Grande has come into question, as she’s seemed to find greater creative bliss in musical theatre and acting – her first loves – than pop stardom.

The sombre, reflective and often quite brilliant Eternal Sunshine tour does little to put those questions to bed. On Saturday at London’s O2 – the first of 10 nights at the venue before the tour, and Grande’s public profile, goes dark – she pledged to “enjoy every second” of this last run of shows. The staging is confined to the burnt-out husk of a house, which is first engulfed in flames, then weeds, then flowers, while police car sirens and helicopter spotlights suggest violent state surveillance. In a series of visuals breaking up each of the show’s acts, Grande – or, rather, a girl called Peaches who looks and sounds a lot like her – contemplates erasing her history, pines for her lost innocence, and reconnects with her younger self. The show’s ethereal closer – in which Grande, her body slack and floating, is absorbed into a great, white light in the rafters of the O2 – is beautiful yet strangely morbid. Is this a symbolic... death? Whatever we’re meant to take from all of this, it undoubtedly feels like a goodbye.

Grande seems slightly stuck between the material she’s grown distant from – but which many of her fans expect to hear – and the more downbeat R&B and synth-pop of her last two records, 2024’s Eternal Sunshine and August’s Petal. They’re nocturnal albums, oscillating between aloof chilliness and plush warmth, and take a bit of work to fall for. But they spark the highlights here, Grande separating from her troupe of dancers to stand alone on stage and belt. “Twilight Zone”, an incredibly pretty cut from Eternal Sunshine’s deluxe reissue Brighter Days Ahead, is given a real showcase, and a Petal-centric encore (the gloomy “Kiss Me” and the Y2K-indie pop of “Bad Thing (Bunny Hop)” make their live debuts here) proves dazzling, Grande in a fluffy white gown cutting loose with her live band. The majestic, Robyn-tinged “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” is a gorgeously intimate closer.

 It’s in these moments that she seems to have finally found herself, and where her boundaries lie, and the kind of music she wants to make. So it’s bittersweet to see her walk away. Necessary, probably. But still bittersweet.

 

https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/ariana-grande-tour-review-eternal-sunshine-london-b3033798.html

[OMF 3,674]

It’s true she seems conflicted and I think many artists, including Gaga, go through this phase. Yet she did just release a new album so she hasn’t gone away

[FfFfFfFF 58,401]

What does Sombr have to do with any of it?

[SimonBaetens 9,526]

7 minutes ago, FfFfFfFF said:

What does Sombr have to do with any of it?

I was about to say I came here expecting a video of Sombr joining Ari on stage

[Ziggy 14,139]

ns but as someone who has only just listened to thank u next i do not see how her music across her catalog is all that different album to album. Obviously they aren't *the same* but all her songs that I've heard seem to be able to sit very comfortably alongside one another sonically.

[Duella Dvil 11,678]

2 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

ns but as someone who has only just listened to thank u next i do not see how her music across her catalog is all that different album to album. Obviously they aren't *the same* but all her songs that I've heard seem to be able to sit very comfortably alongside one another sonically.

...I'm not even a fan of hers like some but like this is what you just said "I've never listened to her music but it all sounds similar" THE LIGHT IS COMING SOUNDS LIKE BREAK FREE? NEWS TO ME.

Listen to her albums and you'll hear VASTLY different soundscapes.

Like NOTHING on positions sounds like ANYTHING on dangerous woman.

Yes they all fall into the sonic realm of Pop Music but like you REALLY shouldn't make such statements while being aware of the fact that you LITERALLY don't know the material. It's fully ignorant to do so

[Ziggy 14,139]

1 hour ago, Duella Dvil said:

...I'm not even a fan of hers like some but like this is what you just said "I've never listened to her music but it all sounds similar" THE LIGHT IS COMING SOUNDS LIKE BREAK FREE? NEWS TO ME.

Listen to her albums and you'll hear VASTLY different soundscapes.

Like NOTHING on positions sounds like ANYTHING on dangerous woman.

Yes they all fall into the sonic realm of Pop Music but like you REALLY shouldn't make such statements while being aware of the fact that you LITERALLY don't know the material. It's fully ignorant to do so

Maybe I misspoke. No what I’m saying is I’ve heard bits of her music over the years. Like I’ve heard positions when it came out and am shocked people were like ITS SO DIFFERENT FROM THANKU NEXT.

when many of the string arrangements across TUN sound like early sketches to positions. And dangerous woman from the parts I’ve heard with its retro influence is not that dramatically far either. I’m not knocking her for this btw I like what all I’ve heard (eternal sunshine, thank u next, positions and sweetener in full), but for a pop star especially it all feels pretty contained in a certain taste not unlike Beyonce, really, up until Cowboy Carter. Different stuff but very obviously within this artist’s oeuvre. Idk it all makes sense to me 🤷

[alexcal24 103]

4 hours ago, FfFfFfFF said:

What does Sombr have to do with any of it?

That's the reason I have internet and why I log in this forum every day 

[alexcal24 103]

I feel like what Ariana is going through should be its own thesis - she talks about disappearing, her last hurrah for a while as a recording artist (which by the way is totally okay) and now the tour visuals symbolize her "death" as a singer. IMO she wants to move on from being pop star Ariana to go to actress, mother maybe?, wife, a more low profile existence? I'm following stories about her every day and the poor girl needs a break first of all - desperately. Then she needs to focus on being away from the spotlight and returning on whatever she pleases - whether it's music, theater, movies, it's her choice and every Arianator should respect it.

[LateToCult 41,999]

And then she low key blew up her acting career with her SpongeBob affair and whatever she was doing with Cynthia on the press tour. 

[IllusionLover 7,669]

14 minutes ago, LateToCult said:

And then she low key blew up her acting career with her SpongeBob affair and whatever she was doing with Cynthia on the press tour. 

The Cynthia thing was the "fans" fault

[NUTELLA 28,148]

5 minutes ago, LateToCult said:

And then she low key blew up her acting career with her SpongeBob affair and whatever she was doing with Cynthia on the press tour. 

-Spongebob affair

-Press tour antics

-Being a weak actress