Over a year ago, Ariana Grande shook up the music industry with her record-breaking studio album, “eternal sunshine.” The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. On its release day, “eternal sunshine” received 58.1 million streams on Spotify globally, setting the record for the most-streamed album in a single day in 2024. All 12 tracks from the album simultaneously appeared on the Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. Now, a year later, Grande is back with a deluxe edition, “eternal sunshine deluxe: brighter days ahead.”
The new edition includes five new songs and an extended version of the album’s first track, “intro (end of the world),” which was released Friday, March 28, 2025. The album has fueled plenty of speculation that its themes are tied to Grande’s recent divorce from real estate agent Dalton Gomez.
This speculation is perhaps best understood through the newly released song “twilight zone.” Lyrically, the song depicts Grande reflecting on a past relationship, which now feels surreal, as if it were a dream or illusion. Grande sings, “Hope you win for best actor, ‘cause I had you completely wrong. Does she know you’re not who you say you are? ‘Cause I might give her a call, or was I just not me at all?” The lyrics are sung over melancholy beats with a hummable tune. In Grande’s official lyric video, the majority of her lyrics feature a question mark at the end of the line, which adds to the feeling that her relationship was all just a fever dream.
The new song “hampstead” is another track on the album stirring up conjecture about Grande’s personal life. The song is a soft ballad with glowing instrumentals and soaring vocals in which Grande discusses her growth as both an artist and person.
The lyrics, “I don’t remember too much of the last year, but I knew who I was when I got here. ‘Cause I’m still the same but only entirely different, and my lover’s just some lines in some songs,” have fans theorizing this song is in response to the media backlash Grande faced during the press tours of her movie “Wicked.” During the press tour, media outlets revealed her relationship with co-star Ethan Slater, who many believe separated from his wife in order to be with the pop star. As she sings, “Threw away my reputation, but saved us the headache.” The chorus is accompanied by Grande’s iconic high notes, which are the focal point of the song. The relevant lyrics and beautiful airy vocals make “hampstead” stand out as the heart of the new edition of “eternal sunshine.”
Unfortunately, the same can not be said for “past life.” The song’s instrumentals blend into the rest of Grande’s discography, making it a forgettable track a near instant after listening. The same goes for the forgettable inclusion of the extended cut of “intro (end of the world).” Although the non-extended version of the song was a huge success, the extended version felt lackluster and choppy. Though Grande’s signature voice helps make the songs tolerable, it’s still hard to believe anyone other than long-term fans are coming back to these songs.
The album “eternal sunshine deluxe: brighter days ahead” was a mixed experience. Although some songs were lyrically cohesive, others lacked interest. Repetitiveness was a common occurrence throughout the album. Grande’s past relationship was an overarching theme following through each deluxe track. Across her other albums, she rarely sticks to one topic and instead moves fluidly through a variety of themes. Grande’s previous album, “Positions (Deluxe),” was far better than “eternal sunshine deluxe: brighter days ahead.” Hopefully, there are brighter days ahead for the pop star.
