Why I love Ariana Grande

Article: old is new

On her 2013 debut album, Yours Truly, teen-actor-turned-pop-starlet Ariana Grande established a unique, nostalgia-based beachhead, interweaving 90s R&B and 1960s girl groups. It got her to the top of the US Billboard 200 albums chart, but on the Mac Miller and David Guetta-produced follow-up, My Everything, she's plumped - oh, Grande! - for generic bangerdom. Though the video to the current single, Break Free, contends that this is a good thing - "You'll soil yourself from intergalactic excitement", a voice intones - it's difficult to engage with much of the synthy froth here. Despite a cast list that includes Childish Gambino and The Weeknd (and, if you're that way inclined, Harry Styles), there's often a facelessness that defeats even Grande's lush vocal performances. Global hit Problem is by a long way the most distinctive thing on the record: lewd saxophone and the interplay between the lusciously full-voiced Grande and bratty-kid MC Iggy Azalea make this one of the songs of the year. A runner-up is Hands on Me, a hazy, Britneyish electro-meander featuring jovial hoots from A$AP Ferg. The Styles-penned ballad A Little Bit of Your Heart is perhaps best left to aficionados.