Ariana Grande: Public Perception and Fame on ‘petal’
Album Review★ Hadley Balser ★ @hadleybalseronpitch ★ 5 Minutes
Forget floaty songs about forgiveness; Ariana Grande is writing about public perception and fame, and you should be afraid. On her new album, petal, her songwriting is arguably the best it’s ever been, from “petal” to “freak” and “hate that i made you love me.” petal still contains fantastic Grande belts and the honest vulnerability I have come to love about her, and yet it is rougher, harder, and less smoothed-over than any album before it.
My first listen of petal was one for the books. Flying from Orlando to Brooklyn for my first interstate move, the album was my companion for the roughly 2-hour flight. Certain songs captivated me immediately, like the titular track “petal” and the pop explosion “never get over me,” while others needed time to marinate. One thing has only become clearer: petal is a masterpiece made for this point in time.
Petal cover art via Katia Temkin“kiss me” works fantastically as an album opener, with the gradual crescendo suddenly bursting into full color. It isn’t the most lyrically complex, but it sets the tone for what is to come.
The lead single “hate that I made you love me” wasn’t an immediate favorite of mine, but one that I knew would improve contextually with the release of the album. This wasn’t an incorrect assessment, as the song’s placement between the opener “kiss me” and the hair-raising “petal” is simply perfect. The lyrics of this track are the most palatable of the album, and are only a hint of what was to come.
“I held your projections when you felt so insecure / Tell me why is it this way?Why you so hate to see women endure? / Is it really my fault you all gave me a heart of your own accord? / I don't really think so.”
Following the single comes the most impressive song on the album, “petal.” The chorus of this song is the best delivery on the entire album:
“It's such a fucked situation / Petal in the pavement / Just as long as she keeps getting it right / Heartbreak won't bite / Here in paradise”
The album’s title is, simply put, perfect. “Petal” is everything the album is, the thesis and exclamation point all in one. Her relationship with fame and the music industry
“Such a convenient conflation / This record in rotation / Long as she gets the ovation each night / Heartbreak won't bite / This is paradise”
It is also telling that Grande drops one of her first “yuhs” in recent years while singing about leaving the public eye. She doesn’t betray herself, even with all her anger, saying she’s “practically drowning in her blessings.” This deep-rooted gratefulness infiltrates all of her work and makes her anger recognizable as her true perspective.
The next track, “stay,” delves into Grande’s personal relationships in what feels like a continuation of the story told in “safety net” and “off the table” from her 2020 album Positions. Her frankness about the impermanence of relationships in her life and her uncertainty about the safety and security of a new one hits even harder with the knowledge of a reignited romance with Dangerous Woman’s muse, Ricky Alvarez.
Connecting to this theme, “oh well” is one of her angriest songs on the album, and seems to be directed at the same figure as most of eternal sunshine. Regardless of whether this song is about her divorce or not, it’s clear that Grande believes forgiveness isn’t always the most genuine perspective on a situation that’s hurt you.
One track in particular to note is fan-favorite “freak.” One of the slowest, most contemplative songs on the album, the typical Grande lyrics about creating a beautiful life for herself have a solemn lilt to them.
“Someday all the seeds will open / All of the life I've been denied of / Will bloom all around, unfrozen / How will it feel? / How will it feel?”
It’s hard not to read a deep exhaustion and pain in her lyrics at how public scrutiny has broken her down. “Freak” has her longing for a “human life” holding hands with her vehement denial of what she perceives the public wants from her:
“I won't give you your fantasy this time / Can you do it now? / No, I won't do what you say, freak, any time / What can you give me now?”
The final notes of “freak” carry into “warning signs (interlude)”. Although it is short by design, it has some of my favorite writing on petal. The opening notes feel almost like an 80s ballad, before delving into the soft pop of Grande’s voice. The final verse of the track before leading into “like i do” is heartbreaking. Grande’s delivery of “I wish someone could hear me” sums up her feelings on the album in one line.
“You don't deserve me / You know you don't, you never have / But I want you to feel me/ I wish someone could hear me.”
Following this, “like i do” is genuinely in competition with baddie Grande songs like “bloodline” and “the boy is mine.” It misses the hard-earned forgiveness of songs like “just like magic” and skips straight to a hard read of her publicity as an unyielding obsession with her talent and personal life, no matter how negative the spin.
“Extra extra / buy one, take me / sexy how you come / to see it’s true / you need me like i, you / cause no one fucks you like i do.”
Continuing the high energy, the Ariana Grande fangirl in me was alight with “never get over me.” Since my first listen, it has been a favorite, on repeat for hours on end. It feels authentic to Grande’s older albums, but with the edge and lyricism of the last few years. As someone whose queer awakening was Ariana Grande, this song makes me feel “some type of way.” It’s here that you can see petal’s birth from eternal sunshine and Dangerous Woman.
This album’s emphasis on harder, less acceptable feelings like rage, ego, and betrayal feels like a natural continuation of her perception of her public image in the tear-jerking “Hampstead” from eternal sunshine deluxe: brighter days ahead.
“Threw away my reputation, but saved us more heartache / Yes, I know it seems fucked up and you're right / But quite frankly, you're still wrong about everything / So far off, your seat's nowhere near the table / But I find something sweet in your peculiar behavior / 'Cause I think to be so dumb must be nice.”
Looking back on this verse, it is abundantly clear that the feelings that drive petal have been brewing for a long time. Lyrics that could have been attributed to her divorce can suddenly be read as a rebuke of what the public has decided she is.
In fact, brighter days ahead truly feels like a bridge between the reflective, vulnerable creature of eternal sunshine and the sardonic, angry perspective of petal. Songs like “past life” and even “dandelion” are tonally different from the mournful joy of her previous album. (Did “dandelion” walk so “never get over me” could run?)
“nowhere, nobody” continues this connection, but with a less optimistic outlook on love and relationships than tracks like “ordinary things.” The transition from the hopefulness of eternal sunshine’s final track and the frank realism of “nowhere, nobody” still highlights something about Grande’s music that will never change: she is, at her core, a lover and a fighter who can’t help but hope.
Stream petal now, and watch the music videos for “petal” and “hate that i made you love me” now on YouTube.
