Ariana Grande navigates divorce on ‘Eternal Sunshine’: album review

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By nicolas hautman

When Ariana Grande was 25, she sang that she only wanted to walk down the aisle one time.

Five years later, her biggest nightmare has come true: she is divorced.

“How do I know if I’m in the right relationship? Aren’t you really supposed to know that shit? wonders about the heavenly introduction to her new concept album, “Eternal Sunshine” (comes out on friday).

But it doesn’t take long for Grande to accept the dreaded fact that the white picket fence that represents her two-year marriage to real estate broker Dalton Gomez is crumbling.

On the second song, aptly titled “Bye,” she is packing her bags while waiting for her best friend to whisk her to freedom.

“At least I know how hard we tried, both you and me,” he sings to Gómez.

Grande’s feelings towards her ex-husband are all over the place.

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One moment she praises him for accepting her “fucked up” flaws (on “Imperfect for You”) and the next she criticizes him for playing her “like Atari” (on the album’s title track).

But who can blame her? It’s the same complex balancing act that everyone who has fallen in love has gone through.

And the Grammy winner does it with grace, choosing to celebrate a relationship she once grieved so she can heal and move on.

“Hoping that life doesn’t bring you any new pain,” he tells Gomez on “I Wish I Hated You,” an ambient tune about persistent love that evokes his idol Imogen Heap.

Much of the impressive vocals on “Eternal Sunshine,” named after the 2004 Jim Carrey-starring film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” lean toward R&B, but when Grande flexes her star muscles, pop (with the help of powerful producer Max Martín), magic happens.

The album’s lead single, “Yes, And?” — which aims to quell widespread speculation that there was overlap in the singer’s marriage and her new relationship with her “Wicked” co-star Ethan Slater — is as ferocious as Madonna’s seminal 1990 hit, “Vogue,” while standout “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” is an inherently sad track in the style of Robyn’s 2010 work “Dancing on My Own.”

It’s a perfect fusion of genres that only a versatile talent like Grande could perfect.