When Ariana Grande announced she was stepping back from music to focus on other projects like “Wicked,” many fans, including myself, feared it would be years before we got another album. 

Then again, when fans keep begging for new music, it’s only a matter of time before the artist caves. That’s exactly what happened with Grande’s “Eternal Sunshine: Brighter Days Ahead.” The deluxe version of her seventh studio album “Eternal Sunshine” arrived on March 28, adding a new layer to an already deeply personal era. 

“Eternal Sunshine” opened at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in March 2024, granting Grande her sixth chart topper, according to Billboard. The highly-anticipated deluxe didn’t just match this energy from “Eternal Sunshine,” it exceeded it. 

I usually don’t stay up until midnight to listen to an album when it first gets released, but knowing Grande put her entire soul into producing this album, I had to listen the second it became available on my Spotify. 

When I heard the first track, “intro (end of the world) – extended,” I was floored. 

As one of my favorites on the original album, I was excited to finally have the full version that expands on the song’s message. The opening track is a raw, honest exploration of insecurities in a relationship, posing questions throughout that summarize the album’s key themes. 

The lyrics, “How can I tell if I’m in the right relationship?/ Aren’t you really s’posed to know that shit?/ Feel it in your bones and own that shit?” capture Grande’s self-doubt and intuition which she expands upon throughout the album. 

The second verse of the extended version asks, “Can’t you sense me? I’ve been right here all this time (All this time)/ Would you still be here pretending you still like me? (Would you still be?),” deepening the theme of emotional disconnect and highlighting her longing for reassurance during her marriage to Dalton Gomez. 

“Twilight zone” is by far, one of the best tracks on the album. Not only does it bring a catchy chillwave beat, the lyrics are incredibly reflective, capturing Grande’s past with Gomez with a feeling of disbelief. 

There are rumors that Grande and Gomez have a non-disclosure agreement preventing them from discussing their divorce publicly, but as Grande once famously said on “Victorious,” “(they) didn’t say I couldn’t sing.” 

“And it’s not like I’m still not over you/ It’s so strange, this I never do/ Not that I miss you, I don’t/ Sometimes, I just can’t believe/ You happened.” Despite Grande being in a budding relationship with “Wicked” co-star Ethan Slater, these lines suggest echoes of her past still resurface in unexpected ways. This song is a reflection of how love — especially one that was this significant in Grande’s life — can feel almost unreal in hindsight. 

My personal favorite song on the album is “Hampstead,” a unique mix of sound that begins with distant piano in a crowded room of chatter before Grande’s ethereal vocals cut through the noise as if she’s pulling you into a private moment. The opening lyrics, “I left my heart at a pub in Hampstead” places listeners directly in the scene, setting the tone for a song steeped in nostalgia and quiet longing. 

In Grande’s sixth studio album “Positions,” she wrote an ode to her lover, expressing her wishes to see herself from his point of view. In “pov” she longs to understand what he sees in her, hoping that perspective will help her learn how to love herself in the same way. 

In “Hampstead” she nods to “pov” with the lyrics “I’d rather be seen and alive than dying by your point of view,” making it clear that she didn’t like the way she was perceived in this relationship. 

Unlike “pov” where she yearns to see herself through an admirer’s eyes, “Hampstead” flips this narrative, suggesting his perspective was stifling. Before concluding, the song reverts to Grande’s live vocals in the crowded pub, bringing listeners full circle to where the track began. 

With “Brighter Days Ahead,” Grande has proved, once again, that her albums aren’t just music; they’re art. The deluxe offers a more immersive experience that reflects the highs and lows or Grande’s past relationship(s), love, loss and self-realization. 

I may be biased, but Ariana keeps proving she’s at the forefront of pop music time and time again. 

Maybe this deluxe will make the Recording Academy finally take her seriously. With every album, Grande transcends the typical pop formula. 

It’s time for the industry to recognize what fans have known since day one — she’s not just a pop star, she’s a visionary who’s redefining what pop music can be.