Sweetener (album)

SweetenerAlbum in studio di Ariana Grande
Informazioni generali
Registrato	luglio 2016 - maggio 2018
Durata	47:25
Etichetta	Republic Records
Produttore/i	Ariana Grande (esec.), Pharrell Williams, Max Martin, Ilya, Savan Kotecha, Tommy Brown, Hitmaka, A1
Singoli
1. "No Tears Left To Cry" 2. "God Is A Woman"
Cronologia album in studio
Precedente	Dangerous Woman
Attuale	Sweetener

Sweetener è il quarto album in studio di Ariana Grande. L'album sarà pubblicato ad agosto 2018 con l'etichetta discografica Republic Records. La registrazione dell'album è iniziata 6 maggio 2016 e terminata il 2 marzo 2018.

L'album ha vinto il Grammy Award per il miglior album vocale pop alla 61a cerimonia, segnando la prima vittoria di un Grammy nella carriera di Grande.

Storia

Successivamente alla pubblicazione del terzo album in studio di Ariana, Dangerous Woman, il 20 maggio 2016, che ricevette una valutazione della critica molto buona, lo stesso mese la cantante ha confermato attraverso Snapchat e Twitter di aver iniziato i lavori e la scirtura del nuovo album. Le sessioni di registrazione iniziarono il 6 maggio 2016 e proseguirono durante l'estate.

Il 13 novembre 2016, Ariana ha confermato su Snapchat di aver terminato il quarto album. Ha successivamente chiarito dicendo, "I didn't mean to make an album, and I don't know if it's done at all, but I just have a bunch of songs that I really really like. I've been working a lot and have been creating and feeling inspired." Il 10 gennaio 2017, Ariana ha confermato nuovamente attraverso un tweet di aver finito l'album, ma successivamente ha cancellato il tweet.

Il 5 marzo 2017, durante il soundcheck della tappa a Toronto del Dangerous Woman Tour, Ariana ha confermato che le canzoni di cui aveva precedentemente fatto sentire uno snippet ("She Got Her Own", "My Way" e "Sober") non sarebbero state presenti nell'album. In un D&R, Ariana ha annunciato che l'album conterrà 10 tracce. Il 6 marzo 2017, Ariana ha confermato in un D&R di aver lavorato con Pharrell per diversi mesi.

Il 18 settembre 2017, Riccardo Marcuzzo ha pubblicato una foto su Instagram mentre editava una canzone per Ariana. Scooter Braun ha detto a Variety che l'album ha un sound più maturo. Pharrell Williams ha detto al LA Times: “The things that [Ariana] has to say on this album, it's pretty next-level.” Il 27 novembre 2017, i produttori Urban/R&B Hitmaka e A1 hanno rivelato di aver prodotto un beat per Ariana. Il 13 dicembre 2017 Ariana ha caricato una foto e un video nelle sue storie di Instagram, dove è in studio per la registrazione dell'album. On December 31, 2017, Ariana shared a snippet from the album on her Instagram. Grande's close friend, Colleen Ballinger, said in a Q&A that she has heard some of the album. Charlie Walk, from Republic Records, also said about the album: "She's making some music that we haven't heard before from her, different types of stuff that I think is gonna be really super important for the 2018 music scene." Frankie Grande, Ariana's brother, said: "It's the best thing that ever happened on earth... she's unbelievable... It's unreal".

On March 2, 2018, the album was reported to be complete. It was also revealed that Pharrell Williams and Max Martin each produced half of the album. On April 9, 2018, it was reported that Grande was set to release the lead single from the album on April 27, 2018 and it was revealed that Savan Kotecha worked on the album. On April 16, 2018, it was reported that Grande may move up the lead single release to April 20, 2018, due to labelmate Post Malone's album being released on April 27. On April 17, 2018, Grande announced that the album's lead single, "No Tears Left To Cry", would be released on April 20, 2018.

Piece of paper from the music video for "No Tears Left To Cry" showing the tracks featured in Sweetener.

In its music video, released the same day, one scene showed a piece of paper with the title "Track List" at the top, however, Grande said that the songs weren't in order.

On May 1, 2018, during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Grande revealed the title of the album, Sweetener. She said the meaning behind the title is "kind of about like bringing light to a situation, or to someone's life, or somebody else who brings light to your life, or sweetening the situation." Grande also revealed three songs featured in the album: "God Is A Woman", "Raindrops" and "The Light Is Coming". On May 17, 2018, in an interview with TIME Magazine, Grande announced a new song, "Get Well Soon", as well as confirming that she took the lead on songwriting for the album and experimented with her sound. On May 21, 2018, Grande posted a snippet on her Instagram story, and revealed that she had added more songs to the album. On May 25, 2018, Grande confirmed that she had added 5 more songs to the album. On May 27, 2018, Grande posted a snippet of "The Light Is Coming", revealing that the song features Nicki Minaj. On May 29, 2018, Grande confirmed that the album would have fifteen tracks, three of which would be collaborations.

On June 2, 2018, Grande announced that the album will be available for pre-order on June 20, 2018, and "The Light Is Coming" will be released with it. On June 17, 2018, Grande revealed that she will be releasing a new song on July 20, 2018. "God Is A Woman" was announced as the album's second single. However, on July 12, 2018, Grande announced that it will be released on July 13, 2018. On July 15, 2018, Grande used the Sweetener Instagram account and began slowly revealing the album track list.

After its release, the album received universal acclaim from music critics and broke the US Spotify record for biggest opening day by a female artist.

Recording

She posted on her Snapchat and tweeted that she was in the studio on May 6, 2016 - June 29, 2016 - July 13, 2016. She was not able to record between May 28, 2016 and early June 2016 due to throat and sinus infection.

On December 13, 2017, old photos of Grande recording surfaced on Twitter. To shut down rumors about them being recent, Grande posted photos of herself working on the album on her Instagram story.

On December 28, 2017, Grande posted four photos and two videos of her in the studio.

On June 7, 2018, Grande revealed that the first song recorded for the album was its title track "Sweetener", in early July 2016. She also revealed that the last song to be recorded was an interlude (later revealed to be titled "Pete Davidson"), in May 2018.

• July 22, 2016
• July 27, 2016
• July 30, 2016
• August 11, 2016
• August 12, 2016
• August 13, 2016
• April 25, 2017
• May 3, 2017
• June 17, 2017
• June 19, 2017
• June 23, 2017
• September 27, 2017
• October 4, 2017
• December 31, 2017
• February 28, 2018
• March 1, 2018

Copertina

Sweetener album cover art teased in a scene from the music video for its lead single, "No Tears Left To Cry".

Il 29 maggio 2018, Ariana ha confermato che la copertina dell'album sarà a colori, e i suoi occhi saranno aperti. Inoltre tramite un tweet ha svelato che la copertina viene mostrata nel video musicale di "No Tears Left To Cry".

On June 12, 2018, an Instagram account for Sweetener was created and began slowly revealing the album cover as a countdown to its pre-order, with one segment being posted every 25 hours. However, on June 18, 2018, the cover art was accidentally leaked by iTunes, so the last three segments were all posted on the same day.

Grande said about the cover art: "I showed Aaron a photo and he was sitting opposite me and he said 'I even love it upside down' and that was kind of it for me at the time I had been feeling very 'upside down' for a while and the simplicity of that was like 'oh duh wow my best friend [is] a genius', everything clicked after that".

The album cover art is similar to its lead single's cover art. Ariana Grande's name isn't anywhere on the cover being her first album cover without her name.

Singles

The lead single, "No Tears Left To Cry", was released on April 20, 2018.

The second single, "God Is A Woman", was released on July 13, 2018.

The third and final single, "Breathin", was released on September 18, 2018.

Singoli promozionali

A promotional single, "The Light Is Coming", featuring Nicki Minaj, was released on June 20, 2018, along with the pre-order of the album.

Promozione

Grande performing at The Sweetener Sessions on August 20, 2018

Articolo principale: The Sweetener Sessions

On August 8, 2018, Grande announced a series of promotional concerts in the United States, titled The Sweetener Sessions, which took place on August 20, 22 and 25 in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, respectively. The tour was in partnership with American Express. On August 28, 2018, a London concert was announced in partnership with Capital Up Close, which will take place on September 4, 2018.

An art exhibit hosted by Spotify inspired by the album, called Sweetener: The Experience, was held on September 29 and 30, 2018, in New York. The exhibition featured rooms inspired by each of the songs on Sweetener.

Tour

Template:Vedi ancheOn October 25, 2018, Grande announced the Sweetener World Tour in support of Sweetener as well as her fifth studio album, Thank U, Next. The tour began on March 18, 2019 in Albany, New York, and is set to end on December 22, 2019 in Inglewood, California.

Vendite

Sweetener debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 with 231,000 album-equivalent units, of which 127,000 were pure album sales. This is Grande's third studio album to debut at the top of the chart, since her previous Dangerous Woman debuted and peaked at No. 2, while Yours Truly and My Everything both debuted at No. 1 in 2013 and 2014, respectively. 6 tracks of the album debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in the same week: "Breathin" (No. 22), "Sweetener" (No. 55), "Everytime" (No. 62), "R.E.M" (No. 72), "Goodnight N Go" (No. 87) and "Pete Davidson" (No. 99).

It also debuted at No. 1 on the UK Albums chart, moving 45,000 album-equivalent units. It became her second number-one album in the UK, and her fastest selling album to date. In Australia, the album became Grande's third number one on the ARIA Albums Chart and all 15 of its tracks placing on the ARIA Singles Chart in the same week. In Finland, the album debuted at No. 1 being her first album to reach the top there. The album also reached the top of the charts in several other markets, including Austria, Canada,, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, Poland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

In Germany and Japan, the album debuted at No. 3 and No. 5, respectively.

Curiosità

• The first song recorded for the album was "Sweetener".
• The last song recorded for the album was "Pete Davidson".
• All track titles are stylized in lowercase apart from "God Is A Woman", which is stylized in sentence case, and "R.E.M".
• The album cover is Grande's first that isn't in black and white.
• There are 30 unreleased songs that were intended for the album, including "My Way", "Sober", "Got Her Own" and "You".

Galleria

Sweetener LP vinyl record
Release date: September 2018

Sweetener cassette
Release date: August 22, 2018, through Island Records only in the UK.

Album track list

Servizio fotografico

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Behind the scenes

Depliant

Tracce

Template:Tracks Template:Tracks Template:Tracks

Tracce scartate

• "My Way"
• "Sober"
• "Got Her Own"
• "You"

Note

Da non confondere con la canzone dallo stesso titolo.