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Wow! I haven’t even thought about albums of the decade yet but would you guys consider this one of your albums of the year? It’s still #1 for me in 2019 (with Billie Eilish, James Blake, Lana Del Rey and Taylor Swift likely completing my top 5) - I think Coldplay’s album is the only release left this year that I’m majorly excited for, so her crown will probably be safe. My last.fm stats speak for themselves, I have had this album on so much this year, plus that doesn’t even account for vinyl plays. She captured her overwhelming emotions beautifully on this record and also provided a handful of bangers along the way!

Yeah it's my fave album of the year so far. I'm really struggling for albums this year! :/

 

I really hope Tinashe delivers later this week!

This year it’s one of my favourite albums for sure! But of this decade I don’t think it’s in my top 5 female albums.

 

It’s not her best album for me maybe her second best though.

 

 

It’s nominated for album of the year at the GRAMMYs.

Incredible :wub: it's also nominated for 'best pop vocal album' which she won last year for 'Sweetener'!

Best pop vocal album seems her most likely award in my opinion.. but she has stronger competition this year.

 

But I’m really happy with her nominations!

I completely forgot it was 2019, feels like late 2018 but that was just the title track.

 

It would probably be top 5 for me behind Taylor, Lizzo and Billie but I'm the same as Jonjo, I'm struggling in terms of albums for an EOY! There's a lot I've listened to and enjoyed but when I think of putting them in my top 5/10 they don't feel "that" good :lol:

It's against a work of art, Norman f***ing Rockwell, for album of the year, sooo yeaaah.

Billboard have named this as the best album of 2019 :o *.*

 

1. Ariana Grande, Thank U, Next

 

“I find it interesting that this has been one of the best years of my career and the worst of my life,” said Ariana Grande while accepting the award for Billboard’s Woman of the Year in 2018. That year, Grande got engaged to (and broke up with) SNL star Pete Davidson, released the Billboard 200-topping album Sweetener, and lost rapper ex-boyfriend Mac Miller to a drug overdose. In the aftermath, she found solace in the studio, sipping champagne with friends and collaborators (including Tayla Parx and Victoria Monét), while writing and recording the best album of her career in only two weeks, Thank U, Next.

 

Grande’s description of her fifth full-length as “like if First Wives Club were an album” was spot-on, as the 12 songs were all about liberation -- from guilt, emotional restraint, and impossible expectations. But rather than a bombastic expression of freedom, Grande kept most of the songs mid-tempo, bass-focused and spacious, lightly skipping through verses more often than belting them out: “And I won’t say I’m feeling fine/ After what I’ve been through, I can’t lie,” she confesses on “Fake Smile.” Grande has been clowned in the past for not enunciating, but on this album, her softer delivery allows for none of her words to go unnoticed, whether admitting her desire for attention on “Needy,” asking for space on “NASA,” moving on on the title track or trying to steal your man on “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored.” But the most poignant line comes on the hazy, possibly Miller-referencing “Ghostin’,” when she sings, “We’ll get through this, we’ll get past this, I’m a girl with/ A whole lot of baggage,” a message sent out to those around her as much as to herself.

 

When Thank U, Next was released on Republic in February, it not only debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, but also marked the biggest streaming week ever for a pop album, and resulted in her becoming the first artist since The Beatles to score the top three songs on the same Hot 100. “As far as my personal life goes, I really have no idea what the f--k I’m doing,” she admitted at Women in Music. The same was not true of her music, and on this album, the pop princess officially became a queen. -- C.W.

 

I'm pleased that 'ghostin' was highlighted for its lyrical content in that write-up. :heart:

ghostin' is top 3 Ari songs, period. So beautifully heartbreaking.

 

So pleased to see it #1 on Billboard's countdown. :wub:

Speaking of ghostin'... it is #13 on The Fader's 'The 25 best pop songs of 2019' list :wub:

 

It’s impressive that Ariana Grande managed to deliver Sweetener and thank u, next within six months of each other. Add to that everything she went through in that time and the fact that those quickly-released, trauma-borne records included songs like “ghostin’,” and the whole thing begins to seem vaguely impossible. “ghostin’”s glossy synths and reverb-heavy vocals point to a kind of coldness, but in reality it's the most empathic song Grande has ever made. Like an inversion of “thank u, next’”s sunny empowerment talk, “ghostin’” finds Grande at a loss for how to keep going, haunted by her love for an ex. “I know that it breaks your heart when I cry again,” goes the song’s unusually understated chorus, an astonishingly vulnerable sentiment that, even after thank u, next’s many beautifully coined lyrics about sadness, hits hard.

Thank U, Next is a very deserving winner of album of the year from Billboard. :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

 

Ghostin is such a stunning track. I'm so happy to see that get some recognition :wub:

 

 

#2 on British GQ's list of best 2019 albums!

 

In 2018, Sweetener showed Ariana Grande was more than just the queen of stadium pop: a lo-fi R&B record filled with Atlanta’s finest talents, it suffered, perhaps, from too many cooks. Then, barely six months later, following a string of major singles, Grande’s Thank U, Next proved she was one of the most confident songstresses out there today. Low in conspicuous collabs, it achieves what every year-defining album should set out to do: as a whole it has timeless listenability, yet it is filled with tracks that became part of 2019’s zeitgeist. An album that references Nineties R&B as much as it does Rodgers and Hart, it feels like the final stage of what Grande has always wanted to do: it's sexy but vulnerable, introverted but powerful.

"introverted but powerful" is a good description - both factors made it a very appealing album to me.

There seems to be a rumour going around that Ari will (finally) be performing at the GRAMMYs! Line up is expected at some time today. Fingers crossed!

 

I don't think she's performed since 2015 where she performed 'Just A Little Bit Of Your Heart'!

Keeping EVERYTHING crossed for this to be true! I was watching her 'God is a woman' VMAs live performance again the other day, ready for more <3

Oooo! I wonder what she would sing?

 

Pleasebetruepleasebetruepleasebetrue!!

I feel like the obvious answer would be 'thank u, next', '7 rings' or a mash-up of the two, but 'Just A Little Bit Of Your Heart' was a pretty inspired choice last time as a song that wasn't even a single, so I'd be here for something more inspired again like 'imagine' or 'in my head'!

 

Lizzo is rumoured too so I'm sure 'Good As Hell (Remix)' would be a must if both are confirmed

7 rings in full as a performance. TUN would be a moment but it’s not nominated. I dunno though she could perform literally anything!

 

I’d love a ghostin performance but I know that’s a tad unlikely for a TV slot like The Grammys but I think the impact would be huge.

Edited January 8, 20205 yr by Jordan Lee

A 'ghostin' performance is truly at the top of my wish-list but she seems to be against performing it, as seen on the Sweetener World Tour. In fact I remember reading before that she had to be persuaded to keep it on the album. The subject matter must be so hard to delve into which is understandable. A one-off performance would be perfection though.

 

I'm getting so impatient about more announcements haha. So far it's Billie, Lizzo + Gwen Stefani. C'mon Ari!!

Ooft. Those were 3 names that were in the list of the rumoured performances! I'm quite confident about it now. Especially as Gwen is such a random choice rn, no? :lol:

 

We shall see :D

 

*gets trolled and she isn't performing*