Ariana Grande’s New Album Is Finally Here
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Ariana Grande is back from somewhere over the rainbow. On Dec. 7, 2023, she posted some photos of her in the recording studio, which of course got the internet buzzing with rumors that she was working on an album.
“FINALLY,” commented fellow singer Selena Gomez.
“Oh this bout to eat,” SZA wrote.
Then, on December 17, Grande teased the album once again, posting a video with no audio of her singing in the studio.
All of the rumors turned out to be true when, on Jan. 7, 2024, Grande announced her single “yes, and?” The song dropped a few days later on January 12 and debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Grande also released a music video for “yes, and?” that same day. She was inspired by Paula Abdul—specifically her 1988 music video for “Cold Hearted.”
One week later, Grande officially announced her upcoming seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshine. This is her first album since Positions in 2020, so fans have been anxiously awaiting new music from the Wicked star.
With the album’s release finally here, ahead is everything you need to know about Eternal Sunshine.
When does Eternal Sunshine come out?
On January 17, Grande officially announced the title and release date of her newest album: Eternal Sunshine comes out on March 8, 2024.
“I think this one may be your favorite. It is mine,” Grande posted to her Instagram Story on February 1.
Grande is keeping the songs from this album under wraps until its official release.
On February 5, she posted to her Instagram story, “my loves ? we are a little over a month away from Eternal Sunshine and I don’t think it’s possible to articulate how grateful I am for your love, support and excitement! I wanted to say... as hard as it is to resist the urge to share another song or single with you all asap, I would really love for you to experience the album in full this time. There will of course be more singles off of this project once it is out (and we may have a little surprise or two up our sleeves to hold you over until then so don't you worry) but waiting a little longer for you to be able to listen fully through first really is my ideal way for you all to experience this body of work.”
“Thank you for your trust in my vision and plan! You ave waited so long for new music from me and I am so grateful for your patience! I look forward to savoring every second of this new era with you all and I sincerely cannot wait for it to be yours! It’s going to be (and already is) so special. I am so excited for all that is to come. More than ever. Love you so so so,” she finished.
And, at last, it’s here!
Has the Eternal Sunshine album cover come out yet?
When announcing the album’s release date, Grande also unveiled its cover, which is the same one she used for “yes, and?” It features a blurry close-up of Grande with red lipstick on.
However, Grande also revealed that there would be seven different cover variations.
“Album cover 5 of 7 tomorrow ?,” she posted on her Instagram Story on January 26.
On February 7, Grande released the sixth album cover, which is now available for preorder.
How many songs are on Eternal Sunshine?
There will be 13 songs on Grande’s seventh studio album. According to her website, track 1 is titled “intro (end of the world),” track 5 is “eternal sunshine,” and track 9 is “yes, and?”
On February 7, Grande revealed some more song titles on her Instagram. Track 2 is called “bye,” track 6 is “supernatural,” and track 10 is “we can’t be friends (wait for your love).”
On February 17, she revealed three more: track 3, called “don’t want to break up again,” track 7, “true story,” and track 11, “i wish i hated you.”
There were also more covers, which she announced in the caption were all available to preorder.
And finally on February 27, Grande shared the titles of the last four songs: track 4 is called “Saturn Returns Interlude,” track 8 is “the boy is mine,” track 12 is “imperfect for you,” and track 13 is “ordinary things (feat. nonna).”
She also appeared to hide some song lyrics in the post. They include: “I’ll hold your hurt in a box here beside me,” “If the sun refused to shine, baby, would I still be your lover,” “How I just can’t go where you don’t go,” “Deep breaths, tight chest, life, death, rewind,” and “How could we know we’d make the bad stuff delightful?”
What can we expect from Eternal Sunshine?
On February 1, Grande posted an Instagram Reel from when she first played some of the songs from the album for her family and team.
“I wanted to share with you this, it’s kinda a concept album because it’s all different heightened pieces of the same story, of the same experience,” she said in the video.
“Some are really vulnerable. Some of them are, like, playing the part that people kind of expect me to be sometimes and having fun with that,” she continued. “And the rest of it is also just kinda really vulnerable.”
Will Grande be putting out any music videos for Eternal Sunshine?
On January 12, the same day as the single’s release, Grande put out a music video for “yes, and?”
Then, on Friday, March 1, exactly one week before Eternal Sunshine, Grande posted an Instagram Reel announcing what appears to be a music video for her upcoming song “we can’t be friends (wait for your love).”
It is inspired by the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, which we can assume the album as a whole takes inspiration from. The movie is about a couple, Joel and Clementine, who break up and decide to undergo medical treatments to permanently erase each other from their memories.
In the clip, Grande is sitting in a waiting room reading a consent form that says, “You have given extensive thought behind your decision and give ‘Brighter Days Inc.’ the exclusive permission to remove this person completely from your memory.” She looks unsure, and her pen lingers over the “No” check box for a moment before she changes her mind and checks “Yes,” signing the name “Peaches” with a heart on the signature line.
A nurse then calls her in for her appointment, and the video ends with, “‘we can’t be friends anymore’ (coming soon).”
“????? we can’t be friends ????? ?,” Grande wrote in the caption. “one week til eternal sunshine.”
Grande already previously revealed that she wouldn’t be releasing any more songs from her new album after “yes, and?,” so sadly we’ll have still have to wait until March 8 to hear “we can’t be friends.” However, it is unclear if Grande will be dropping the music video the same day, or if that’ll come at a later date.
Will Grande be going on tour?
According to some genius TikTok sleuths, the coding on Grande’s website was updated to eventually include a “tour dates” section, so we can hopefully expect to see her perform Eternal Sunshine live soon.
But, we don’t suggest getting your hopes up just yet. Grande made a very rare podcast appearance on the Zach Sang Show on February 26, her first interview in quite a while, where she admitted that she’s unsure if she’ll go on tour.
“I think I would love to do shows. I love being on stage. I miss being on stage. I miss my fans so much, that’s honest to god truth,” she started. “Um, I had a really hard time emotionally on my last tour, but I think that’s because of where I was at. So, just like with music, I think I’m really excited to redefine my relationship to shows when I’m ready and to see what that looks like.”
“I do have a very busy year with this and with Wicked,” Grande added. “And then the next year I also have Wicked Part Two. So, I’m interested to see what that would look like. It would obviously be shorter. If it were anything, it would be, like, a littler...a littler something. But I definitely do have the itch. I miss my fans. I miss being on stage. But then again, I also am not ready to announce any sort of thing or get people too excited ‘cause I don’t want to disappoint.”
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