On March 8, 2024, Ariana Grande released her seventh studio album, eternal sunshine, along with a music video for the album’s surprise smash hit “we can’t be friends.” The video follows the character of Peaches, who has painful memories of her ex-partner wiped from her mind. Little did the world know that this wasn’t the last time we would see Peaches.
Just a little over a year later, Grande dropped the deluxe version of eternal sunshine. It includes five brand-new tracks and an extended version of the intro. Paired with this release also came a nearly 30-minute short film titled brighter days ahead. It is an understatement to say that her fans and the internet alike completely lost their marbles.
intro (end of the world) – extended
The beginning of this track is the same as its shorter version, but continues with a somewhat jarring transition into the second half; regardless, the song remains its integrity throughout the remainder of the track. In the new section, Grande expresses how she wishes her ex-partner could have seen from her point of view, saying she’d do so by jumping into his skin and replacing his eyes. Grande wraps up the song saying that, even though it’s unfortunate, she’s the bad guy in their breakup.
twilight zone
By far one of the most surreal tracks in the deluxe, this song starts with Grande questioning if her relationship with her ex-partner was even real. The song soon transitions into the captivating chorus, an earworm that represents Grande’s disbelief of their crazy relationship, singing “sometimes I just can’t believe… you happened.” The whole song sticks to this one theme and the song’s charm is only made more stunning as the backing track fades out in the end, leaving only Grande’s vocals to finish this masterpiece of a song.
warm
This track is definitely the feel-good song on the deluxe, another enchanting track in which Grande talks about being able to finally let out her emotions and cry now that she’s on her own, though she still remembers the comfort of her partner’s arms. Paired with a lighthearted backing track that becomes more of a symphony with each reiteration of the chorus, this song stands as a beacon of hope for Grande’s mental health.
dandelion
A nod to Grande’s older eras in music, “dandelion” features a much more upbeat backing track than “twilight zone” or “warm.” Though there’s a soothing horn solo at the beginning, it’s merely a ruse for the true nature of the song. Unlike the other tracks that came before this, the lyrics are much more provocative. It’s possible that Grande is hinting that this song is about her new partner, and the lyrics are Grande wanting to take the next step in her relationship with this new person. She compares herself to a dandelion, describing how her new partner can get whatever they want from her just by wishing for it. It’s by far one of the most upbeat dance songs in the deluxe, and a fun addition to the album.
past life
The second-to-last track of the deluxe features a cello-filled score all about moving on. The backing track presents itself more as a dramatic epic than a standard Ariana Grande song, but it only makes it even more fitting for the lyrics. They describe Grande’s journey of coming to terms with her relationship status, finally accepting that she’d be okay with leaving her ex-partner behind her– or in Grande’s words– a “past life.”
Hampstead
“Hampstead” is the perfect finish to this album, a testament to Grande’s final moments with her ex-husband. Hampstead is an area in London in which Grande lived with her ex-husband during the filming of Wicked and Wicked: For Good, which is ultimately where their split took place. Throughout this final masterpiece in the album, Grande talks about how she played into the media’s narrative of a homewrecker for the good of both herself and her ex-husband, because they were both in a bad relationship.
She also allegedly talks about their toxic traits in the chorus, from the line “what’s wrong with a little bit of poison… I would rather feel everything than nothing every time.” With this line Grande might have been trying to express that everyone has their bad traits and nobody is perfect, including her ex-husband. And later in the same chorus, “I’d rather be seen and alive than dying by your point of view” could possibly be referring to how she could finally see through her ex-husband’s eyes, and she didn’t like what she saw (a nod to her previous song, “pov” from the album positions).
brighter days ahead: the short film
Most of the deluxe tracks along with a couple tracks from the main album were all brought together to make brighter days ahead, Grande’s sequel to the “we can’t be friends” music video. It follows the story of Peaches, now an old woman, watching the last few memories of her life. It’s set in the same facility from Grande’s “we can’t be friends” video, now a futuristic memory-management business called “Brighter Days Inc.” In the words of YouTube itself (which commented on the video), it is “26 minutes and 10 seconds of pure cinema.” The rest of the internet couldn’t agree more- the video itself has racked up hundreds of thousands of likes in under a week. This short film is a must-watch for all who love eternal sunshine, or for anyone wanting a peek into Grande’s life.
It’s safe to say that the deluxe version of eternal sunshine is better than the base album itself. The new tracks and the short film turns the modest album into something even greater: an epic story. That’s something that all artists can look up to, especially moving into the future as Grande continues to produce more music and develop her resurfacing acting career.
