“ | It's an album that I want to do a little bit different. I don't want it to sound like an extension of Yours Truly. I want it to sound like an evolution. I want to explore more sounds and experiment a little bit. I have a bunch of ideas I'm very excited about and a lot of stuff cooking. | ” |
–Ariana Grande on her sophomore studio album[1] |
My Everything (commonly abbreviated as ME) is the second studio album by American singer Ariana Grande, released on August 25, 2014, by Republic Records. Recorded between October 2013 and May 2014, Grande sought for a more elevated, mature, and diverse sound in comparison to her debut album, Yours Truly. To achieve this, she worked with a wide array of co-writers and producers, including Max Martin, Shellback, Ryan Tedder, Rodney Jerkins, Ilya Salmanzadeh, Zedd, and Tommy Brown.
Background[]
On September 3, 2013, Grande released her highly acclaimed debut album, Yours Truly. Later that month, in an interview with Rolling Stone, Grande stated that she had begun writing and working on her second studio album and had already completed two songs.[2] Recording sessions began in October 2013 with Grande working with previous producers from her debut album, Harmony Samuels and Tommy Brown.[3] She had a meeting with Republic Records to discuss the album that same month.[4] Grande was initially aiming at releasing the album around February 2014. On October 15, 2013, Grande confirmed the song "Ridiculous", which was later scrapped for unknown reasons.[5]
Grande sought for My Everything to sound like "an evolution" from her debut album, Yours Truly (2013). Primarily a pop and R&B record, My Everything expands on the 90s-inspired style of its predecessor while also approaching new genres, such as EDM, electropop, hip-hop, and soul. To help compliment these new, diverse sounds, Grande sought out a more mature lyrical identity.
In January 2014, Grande confirmed she had been working with new producers, such as Ryan Tedder, Savan Kotecha, Benny Blanco, Key Wane, and Max Martin.[6][7] The next month, Grande shared that she had recorded a "very special and honest" song and wanted to name the album after it.
It was announced on March 3, 2014, that Grande would appear on "Don't Be Gone Too Long", the intended fifth single off Chris Brown's then-upcoming sixth studio album titled X. The single was originally set for release on March 25, 2014, however, due to Brown's assault charges and subsequent arrest, the single was postponed. Grande announced the songs delay on March 17, 2014, via Twitter, stating: "my loves… so obviously some things have changed recently… so we have to delay the [don't be gone too long] countdown… some things are out of our control."[8] That same night, she held a livestream to make up for the singles delay where she previewed five new songs from the album: "My Everything", "Be My Baby", "You Don't Know Me", "Only 1", and "Too Close". The single's release never materialized and its music video was later scrapped as well. Two days following the announcement, Grande revealed that due to the song's delay, she would be releasing the first single from her upcoming sophomore studio album instead.[9]
Work for the album concluded sometime in late-May, 2014, with the photoshoot for the album's packaging taking place on May 27, 2014.[10] On June 28, 2014, Grande revealed the title of the album and its release date.[11]
Singles[]
- The lead single, "Problem", featuring Iggy Azalea, was released on April 28, 2014.
- The second single, "Break Free", featuring Zedd, was released on July 2, 2014.
- The third single, "Bang Bang", with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj, was released on August 17, 2014.
- The fourth single, "Love Me Harder", with The Weeknd, was released on September 30, 2014.
- The fifth and final single, "One Last Time", was released on February 10, 2015.
Promotional singles[]
- The first promotional single, "Best Mistake", was released on August 12, 2014.
- The second promotional single, "One Last Time", was released on August 22, 2014, before becoming the final single from the album on February 10, 2015.
Promotion and release[]
On June 28, 2014, Grande announced that her album would be available for pre-order through her website.[12] Those who pre-ordered the album would gain exclusive access to a concert stream that will be held on August 24, 2014, where she will perform songs from the album live for the first time.[13] In the weeks preceding the release of My Everything, several previews of songs from the album were released.
The album was scheduled to be released in the UK, Ireland, Germany, and Oceania on August 22, 2014. Due to the different timezones in these areas, the album leaked on August 21, 2014 for most other countries.
On August 24, 2014, Grande opened the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards with "Break Free" and then later appeared to perform "Bang Bang" with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj. Following her performance on the show, My Everything was released worldwide on August 25, 2014. During the week of its release, commercials aired on television to promote My Everything as well as the Beats Pill.[14]
On August 29, 2014, Grande performed "Problem", "Break Free", "Bang Bang", and "Break Your Heart Right Back" on The Today Show. In addition to performing, Grande was also interviewed, helped forecast the weather, and brought her grandmother on set for an interview of her own.[15]
On September 5, 2014, Grande performed the title track, 'My Everything', during the Stand Up to Cancer television program in dedication to her grandfather, who had died from cancer earlier that year.[16]
Tour[]
Grande embarked on her second concert tour and first arena tour, titled the Honeymoon Tour, in support of My Everything. It was officially announced on September 10, 2014, and traveled across North America, Europe, Asia and South America. The tour began on February 25, 2015, in Independence, Missouri, and ended on October 25, 2015 in São Paulo, Brazil. The tour grossed $41.8 million from 81 shows with a total attendance of 808,667.[17]
Trivia[]
- Grande stated that, at the time of the album's release, she loves this album five times more than Yours Truly.[7]
- Grande has referred to My Everything as a "more grown" up version Yours Truly.
- Ariana stated she wasn't going to put "Problem" on My Everything until she heard the final version.[13]
- Grande had the photoshoot for the album packaging on May 27, 2014.[10]
- In certain deluxe editions of the album, the booklet folds out into a poster.
- Grande revealed the name of the album via Twitter on June 28, 2014.[12]
- Grande has writing credits on 8 out of the 17 tracks found on all editions of the album.
- My Everything currently features the most collaborations within a single album throughout her whole career, with a total of 9 collaborations.
- In the weeks preceding the release of My Everything, several previews of songs from the album were released.
- On July 7, 2014, a teaser of "Best Mistake" featuring Big Sean was posted onto her Instagram page.[18][19]
- On July 27, 2014, Cashmere Cat previewed "Be My Baby" at one of his concerts. This was filmed and uploaded to YouTube by a fan, and Grande subsequently retweeted a link to the video on her Twitter profile.[20][21] She then retweeted a second snippet of the song on August 4, 2014.[22][23]
- Twenty days before the album's release, Grande posted a preview of "Love Me Harder", featuring Canadian recording artist The Weeknd, to her Instagram profile.[24]
- On August 20, 2014, "Why Try", "Be My Baby", "Love Me Harder", and "Just a Little Bit of Your Heart" were released on iTunes, courtesy of MTV.[25]
- To promote the album, Grande hosted a concert stream on August 18, 2014, which granted access to those who preordered My Everything through her website a chance to attend.[13]
- The first song recorded for the album was "Only 1" and the last was "Love Me Harder".[26]
- The singles were remixed and put on her first remix album, The Remix.[27]
- To commemorate the first anniversary of My Everything, Grande posted on Instagram two outtakes of the photoshoot of the album.[28]
- On June 12, 2018, Grande said that her top 5 songs from My Everything are "Only 1", "Be My Baby", "Best Mistake", "Break Your Heart Right Back" and "You Don't Know Me".[29]
- On choosing a simple cover for the album artwork, Grande said: "Each song is so strongly themed that I just wanted to have a very simple overall cover. So that within each song we could create more visual themes."[13]
- My Everything is Grande's second consecutive album cover to feature her eyes closed. This later became a joke within the fandom, leading to Grande telling her fans she "finally woke up" on the Dangerous Woman album cover.
- Including the promotional singles, My Everything has the most singles out of any other album she has released.
- Throughout the years, classic merchandise for My Everything, alongside every other album, has been put on sale once again as part of occasional "rewind" collections.
- With 17 tracks in total, My Everything has the third most tracks out of all of Grande's albums. The album with the 2nd most tracks would be Dangerous Woman (18, including Focus, otherwise it would tie with My Everything at 17) and the 1st being Positions (19 tracks).
- The stool in which Grande is sitting on is a ST151 Corbin 29″ Studio Stool, which has the dimensions of 9″H × 16″W × 16″D.
- There was also a social media challenge to replicate the pose Grande did on the stool in 2017.[30]
Merchandise[]
Physical Releases[]
Gallery[]
Recording[]
Photoshoot[]
Spotify[]
Track listing[]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Intro" | Tommy Brown, Victoria Monét, Ariana Grande | Brown | 1:20 |
2. | "Problem" (featuring Iggy Azalea) | Ilya Salmanzadeh, Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, Amethyst Kelly, Grande | Martin, Ilya, Shellback, Peter Carlsson | 3:13 |
3. | "One Last Time" | David Guetta, Kotecha, Giorgio Tuinfort, Rami Yacoub, Carl Falk | Falk, Rami, Ilya, Tuinfort, Kotecha | 3:17 |
4. | "Why Try" | Benjamin Levin, Ryan Tedder, Ammar Malik, Noel Zancanella | Tedder, Benny Blanco, Zancanella | 3:31 |
5. | "Break Free" (featuring Zedd) | Anton Zaslavski, Martin, Kotecha | Zedd, Martin | 3:35 |
6. | "Best Mistake" (featuring Big Sean) | Sean Anderson Dwane Weir II Grande | Key Wane, Sauce | 3:53 |
7. | "Be My Baby" (featuring Cashmere Cat) | Levin, Magnus August Hoiberg, Theron Thomas, Timothy Thomas, Peder Losnegård | Benny Blanco, Cashmere Cat, Lido | 3:36 |
8. | "Break Your Heart Right Back" (featuring Childish Gambino) | Kirby Dockery, Andrew "Pop" Wansel, Warren "Oak" Felder, Donald Glover, Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers, Steven Jordan, Christopher Wallace, Sean Combs, Mason Betha | Pop & Oak | 4:13 |
9. | "Love Me Harder" (with The Weeknd) | Martin, Kotecha, Peter Svensson, Ali Payami, Abel Tesfaye, Ahmad Balshe | Payami, Svensson, P. Carlsson | 3:56 |
10. | "Just a Little Bit of Your Heart" | Harry Styles, Johan Carlsson | J. Carlsson, P. Carlsson | 3:53 |
11. | "Hands on Me" (featuring A$AP Ferg) | Rodney Jerkins, Alicia Renee Williams, Adrianne Birge, Darold Ferguson Jr. | Darkchild, Hot Sauce | 3:12 |
12. | "My Everything" | Grande, Brown, McCants, Taylor Parks | Brown, McCants | 2:48 |
Total length: | 40:31 |
Deluxe Edition (bonus tracks) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
13. | "Bang Bang" (with Jessie J & Nicki Minaj) | Martin, Kotecha, Rickard Göransson, Onika Maraj | Martin, Göransson, Ilya, Kuk Harrell | 3:18 |
14. | "Only 1" | Grande, Brown, Travis Sayles, McCants, Dennis Jenkins, Marcel Hall, Marlon Williams, Isaac Hayes, Paul Leka, Gary DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer, Roy C. Hammond | Grande, Brown, Sayles, McCants | 3:14 |
15. | "You Don't Know Me" | Grande, Harmony Samuels, Helen "Carmen Reece" Culver, Al Sherrod Lambert, Maurice David Wade | Samuels, Jo Blaq | 3:54 |
Total length: | 51:10 |
French Re-release (bonus tracks) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
16. | "One Last Time (Attends-moi)" (featuring Kendji Girac) | Guetta, Kotecha, Tuinfort, Yacoub, Falk | Falk, Yacoub, Ilya, Tuinfort, Kotecha | 3:14 |
17. | "Love Me Harder" (with The Weekend) (Alex Ghenea Remix) | Martin, Kotecha, Svensson, Payami, Tesfaye, Balshe | Payami, Svensson, P. Carlsson, | 3:32 |
18. | "One Last Time" (Gazzo Remix) | Guetta, Kotecha, Tuinfort, Yacoub, Falk | Falk, Yacoub, Ilya, Tuinfort, Kotecha | 4:05 |
Italian Re-release (bonus tracks) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
16. | "One Last Time" (featuring Fedez) | Guetta, Kotecha, Tuinfort, Yacoub, Falk | Falk, Yacoub, Ilya, Tuinfort, Kotecha | 3:18 |
17. | "Love Me Harder" (with The Weekend) (Alex Ghenea Remix) | Martin, Kotecha, Svensson, Payami, Tesfaye, Balshe | Payami, Svensson, P. Carlsson | 3:32 |
18. | "One Last Time" (Gazzo Remix) | Guetta, Kotecha, Tuinfort, Yacoub, Falk | Falk, Yacoub, Ilya, Tuinfort, Kotecha | 4:05 |
Target Edition (bonus tracks) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
16. | "Cadillac Song" | Grande, Brown, Sayles, McCants, Leon Sylvers | Brown, Sayles, McCants | 2:52 |
17. | "Too Close" | Grande, Samuels, Culver, Lambert, Wade | Samuels, Jo Blaq | 3:35 |
Total length: | 57:27 |
Japan Edition (bonus tracks) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
16. | "Cadillac Song" | Grande, Brown, Sayles, McCants, Sylvers | Brown, Sayles, McCants | 2:52 |
17. | "Too Close" | Grande, Samuels, Culver, Lambert, Wade | Samuels, Jo Blaq | 3:35 |
18. | "Baby I" (featuring Taro Hakase) | Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Antonio Dixon, Patrick "J. Que" Smith | Edmonds, Dixon | 3:17 |
Total length: | 60:44 |
Walmart Exclusive Edition (bonus tracks) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
16. | "Problem" (featuring Iggy Azalea) (Wayne G Club Mix) | Salmanzadeh, Martin Kotecha, Kelly, Grande | Martin, Ilya, Shellback, P. Carlsson, Wayne G | 6:35 |
Total length: | 57:45 |
Belgian Fnac Deluxe Edition (bonus disc) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
1. | "Problem" (featuring Iggy Azalea) (DJ Buddha Dub Remix) | Salmanzadeh, Martin, Kotecha, Kelly, Grande | Martin, Ilya, Shellback, P. Carlsson, DJ Buddha | 6:52 |
2. | "Problem" (featuring Iggy Azalea) (DJ Class Remix) | Salmanzadeh, Martin, Kotecha, Kelly, Grande | Martin, Ilya, Shellback, P. Carlsson, DJ Class | 5:15 |
Japanese Deluxe Edition (bonus DVD) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
1. | "Problem" (featuring Iggy Azalea) (Music Video) | Ilya Salmanzadeh, Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, Amethyst Kelly, Grande | Martin, Ilya, Shellback, Peter Carlsson | |
2. | "Problem" (featuring Iggy Azalea) (Lyric Video) | Ilya Salmanzadeh, Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, Amethyst Kelly, Grande | Martin, Ilya, Shellback, Peter Carlsson |
Cut tracks[]
- "Ain't About What You Got"
- "Don't Be Gone Too Long"
- "In the Morning"
- "Lighter"
- "Not Afraid of Love"
- "Nothing Lasts Forever"
- "Ridiculous"
- "The Way It Is"
References[]
- ↑ Ariana Grande on her sophomore album to Rolling Stone
- ↑ Rolling Stone - Q&A: Ariana Grande on ‘Yours Truly’ and Judging Miley Cyrus
- ↑ Music Times - Ariana Grande Twitter announces she's working on second album in studio
- ↑ Disney Dreaming - Ariana Grande Has a Meeting About Her Second Album
- ↑ MTV - Ariana Grande confirms new song 'ridiculous'
- ↑ Idolator - Ariana Grande Talks Working With Max Martin For Second Album
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Billboard - Ariana Grande Talks 'Problem' Single & Second Album, Due Out August/September
- ↑ Idolator - Chris Brown and Ariana Grande’s duet “Don’t Be Gone Too Long” has been postponed
- ↑ Twitter - Ariana confirms first single of the album will come out sooner
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Twitter - Ariana about album packaging photoshoot
- ↑ Billboard - Ariana Grande announces second album 'My Everything', teases 'Break Free' video
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Twitter - Ariana confirming and announcing album name and preorder
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 iHeartRadio - Ariana announces exclusive concert! (via youtube interview)
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal - Triple-Platform Push for Ariana Grande's Album
- ↑ Today - Ariana Grande brings her 'Everything' to mob of fans on TODAY plaza
- ↑ CBS Miami - Celeb-Packed ‘Stand Up To Cancer’ Telecast Returns Friday Night
- ↑ Pollstar - Top 100 Worldwide Tours 2015
- ↑ Instagram - Ariana releases 'Best Mistake' snippet
- ↑ MTV - Ariana Grande teases 'Best Mistake' featuring Big Sean
- ↑ Billboard - Hear Ariana Grande & Cashmere Cat's surprise track 'Be My Baby'
- ↑ 'Be My Baby' snippet from Cashmere Cat concert (via youtube)
- ↑ Twitter - Ariana retweets 'Be My Baby' 2nd snippet
- ↑ 'Be My Baby' 2nd snippet from Cashmere Cat concert (via youtube)
- ↑ MTV - Listen to a snippet of Ariana Grande's collab with The Weeknd on 'Love Me Harder'
- ↑ Billboard - Ariana Grande premiers 4 new songs, including Harry Styles-penned ballad
- ↑ Twitter - Ariana confirms first & last songs recorded
- ↑ Apple Music - The Remix album track listing
- ↑ Instagram - Ariana's post for the first anniversary of My Everything
- ↑ Twitter - Ariana Grande on her top 5 from My Everything
- ↑ https://www.kiddnation.com/ariana-grande-stool-challenge/
[]
My Everything | |
---|---|
August 22, 2014 • 40:31 • Republic Records | |
Songs | |
Released | Bang Bang • Be My Baby • Best Mistake • Break Free • Break Your Heart Right Back • Cadillac Song • Hands On Me • Intro • Just A Little Bit Of Your Heart • Love Me Harder • My Everything • One Last Time • Only 1 • Problem • Too Close • Why Try • You Don't Know Me |
Unreleased | Ain't About What You Got • In The Morning • Lighter • Not Afraid of Love • Nothing Lasts Forever • Ridiculous • The Way It Is |
Artists | |
Ariana Grande • A$AP Ferg • Big Sean • Cashmere Cat • Childish Gambino • Iggy Azalea • Jessie J • Miley Cyrus • Nicki Minaj • The Weeknd • Tori Kelly • Zedd | |
Tour | |
The Honeymoon Tour |