7 8.52 Break Free (feat. Zedd)

Highest: Cameron (11), Jay, Jack, Riser, JosephStyles, LewisGT, SamJudd, Cqmerqn, RobBot, Juliano, Wall + Jonjo (10) / Lowest: Bré (3), Jordan Lee (4)

 

Falling out next, ahead of the top 5, is 'Break Free'! This was released as the second single from Ariana's sophomore album 'My Everything'. She swiftly stepped away from the R&B and pop flavours of 'Problem' and served a dance banger instead as the follow up. She teamed up with Zedd for this release (3/4 of the singles from 'My Everything' enlisted the help of a featured artist) after he heard her voice at a Universal Records event and stated that he "wanted to work with whoever was singing" - what a first impression eh! They proved to be a successful team-up as 'Break Free' peaked as high as #4 in the United States and is one of Ariana's videos with over 1 billion views! The situation in the U.K. was frustrating however - as chart rules at the time meant only one instant grat could chart from an album, so 'Problem' was granted this status while 'Break Free' was ineligible to chart for a while. As a result, 'Break Free' only received a #14 peak here, when it could've potentially hit the top 10 without this rule in place. Boo! I do not miss those times.

 

'Break Free' is an uptempo, liberating single from Ariana. It feels strange to think that it was apparently supposed to be a ballad by Austin Mahone, until Max Martin and Zedd had a conversation, following the latter's desire to work with Ariana. The song is club-ready with its huge dance production and hands-in-the-air chorus. 'Break Free' truly saves the best until last though, as Ariana unleashes an impressive note before the last chorus, then provides ad-libs during said chorus, before the single then closes with an unexpected switch-up in the production. The accompanying music video takes inspiration from the movie Barbarella and the Star Wars franchise. It's very spacey and camp. If a bit tacky. Most seem to either love it (...ironically? x) or hate it. A strong contender for most memorable video from the era anyway.

 

Lots of you love 'Break Free', as Cameron awards it his top score and a whopping 11 people give it a 10. However, a single this high still faces the wrath of haters, as it receives two sub-5 scores. It's now 'Love Me Harder' vs. 'One Last Time' for the battle of highest 'My Everything' song. It's impressive that the former is still to come when it didn't even crack the top 40 here! Perhaps its commendable longevity saves it from the usual curse of low-peakers flopping in rates.

 

~~~

 

I used to find 'Break Free' quite throwaway but it's really grown on me over the years. I'm glad that 'Love Me Harder' and 'One Last Time' are higher though.

Break Free is far too high.

 

I loved it in 2014 but genuinely would rate it amongst her weaker stuff now. She’s topped it so many times and it’s aged too.

 

It’s probably my favourite visual from pre sweetener era Ariana though.

Edited March 13, 20205 yr by Jordan Lee

I love Break Free so much :wub: :wub: :wub:

 

It's certainly one of her best videos. Indeed very camp but it's so much fun and gave us some iconic Ariana looks (and boob missiles). I was just becoming a proper stan at the time as was so obsessed with this and Problem and then listened to the album (nearly) every day for over a year when that finally came out.

 

It was funny hearing Ariana complain so much about how much she hated the 'now that I've become who I really are' line because of the poor grammar. If you listen closely you can actually tell she makes sure to throw in an 'm' sound to make it 'am'. :lol:

'Break Free' is one of the most instant mood lifters ever for me. It never fails to put me in not only a good mood, but almighty high spirits! Such an ear worm and a masterclass in how you do a dance/pop crossover smash!

I mean, it's generic but it's such an anthem and it's always such a joy to hear out on the dancefloor. I'd say it's pretty much cemented itself as a classic since its release.

My most played track by her and still my 2nd/3rd favourite of all. Such a mood lifting banger. I still haven't loved a song on first listen as I have with Break Free, I'd say the song turned me into a mega-fan.

 

I'd say the reason I love 'Break Free' is the same reason 'no tears' and 'breathin' are favourites of mine. They're like medicine for anxious messes like myself. :lol:

 

6 8.89 Love Me Harder (Ariana Grande & The Weeknd)

Highest: HausofKubrick (11) / Lowest: dan.G (6)

 

From one My Everything single to another, Love Me Harder was released as the album's third single after a strong fan and critic reception. The track is a collaboration with The Weeknd, who, at the time, was up-and-coming as a chart artist. The track is midtempo, playing to the vocal strengths of both artists, with a "throbbing" chorus, and is lyrically about wanting romantic satisfaction. The release of its music video sent it into the Hot 100 top 10, peaking at #7 and becoming the fourth consecutive top 10 track from My Everything (including Bang Bang). It's quite baffling to see it only got to #48 in the UK, but it was a streaming hit in the early days of the streaming era and has since been certified gold for over 400k units, so by no means a flop!

I think I would've given 'Love Me Harder' an 11 during the last rate (as that was pre-Sweetener) but a few songs have overtaken it now! I still think it's brilliant though. Such a shame that it didn't even peak in the top 40 here as that really doesn't reflect its success at all - its long chart run does the talking *.*

Love Me Harder is such a slick song. I was so disappointed that it could never reach the top 40.

 

This was my first proper introduction to The Weeknd (after hearing Crew Love once when it charted) and it was a great first impression. His verse is so smooth and blends in really well with Ariana's parts. She looks amazing in the video too.

'Love Me Harder' is great. A wonderfully chilled, laid-back, Pop/R&B crossover track. Their voices blend so nicely together.

Just imagine if Love Me Harder was released at a later date.

 

Like both artists power now would sure fire make it a top 3 debut.

 

I’m glad to see it ahead of Problem and Break Free as it’s definitely better in sound and it’s still fresh sounding too.

Break Free and Love Me Harder are both amazing, glad they've done well here!

Surprised to see LMH so high but its a decent one. One of her first charters for me

 

5 8.93 breathin

Highest: Jordan Lee, blacksquare, George.keh, Nick F1, Juliano, Josh!, Cqmerqn, Cameron, Jade, SamJudd, LewisGT, Jay (10) / Lowest: Tawdry Hepburn (6)

 

Breathin was the 3rd and final single from 2018’s Sweetener and is remarkably its first to drop out as we enter the top 5. While most would agree that it was 'thank u next' that sent Ariana into the stratosphere, it is worth noting that this very impressively managed to debut in the top 10 in the U.K. as an album track while also managing the same feat in Australia. It had a slightly lower debut of #22 in the US but did later climb to #12 when chosen as a single. Upon release it had the 4th biggest Spotify opening day for a female artist; crazy numbers for a song that was not even yet an official single. It’s commercial prospects were somewhat hampered by the timing of its eventual receiving of single status. By the time its video dropped on 7th November 2017, 'thank u, next' was already topping charts all around the world and the hype had moved away from Sweetener and onto the recently announced forthcoming album. So much so that there are even references to TUN’s tracklist throughout the video. You can read ‘needy’, ‘imagine’ and ‘remember’ (the song cut from the album for being too personal) on the departure board.

 

Lyrically, the song focuses on Ariana’s anxiety and her chosen method to help herself cope. As such, it is a song that really resonates with people, which is reflected in the abundance of high scores is has received here. On an episode of Jimmy Fallon, Ariana explained that she wrote the song during a period where she was particularly effected by PTSD and suffered an anxiety attack during the recording sessions for her album, saying “We were in the studio, we were writing and I was like, 'Ugh can't breathe.' And they were like, 'We're going to write this song.' And I was like, 'OK, I still can't breathe, but we'll write it”. I think the song is one of the best portrayals of anxiety in musical media and the repetition of ‘just keep breathing’ in the chorus is in itself very therapeutic. The song balances the line perfectly between personal and relatable and is something that holds the power to affect my mood every time I listen to it.

 

Breathin is one of my all-time favourite songs and was so close to receiving my 11. Instead it ends up as the highest place song not to receive the coveted top grade as I become one of twelve people to rate it a 10. The song was so instant for me. I remember staying up all night to listen to Sweetener as soon as it was released and 10 seconds into this track, I knew I was listening to something special. My highlight of the Sweetener World Tour was witnessing this song being performed live mere metres from where I was standing. Her vocals were insane as ever and it is a memory I will cherish for the rest of my life. I still watch the video I recorded of it at least once a week.

 

Fun fact: the unintelligible sampled into that starts the song reads “But tonight’s your special night to do something magical” when read backwards.

 

‘breathin’ has done so well to finish as high as 5th! It says a lot that all of the ‘Sweetener’ singles have finished in the top 5 here. They really got those so right. I agree that ‘breathin’ is a very therapeutic song - always a go-to when needing to calm down.

'breathin'' is cute and absolutely the right choice of 3rd single from that era. I can't say I go back to it much (unlike Giaw and ntltc) but when it's on, it's pretty special! I just don't get the urge to listen to it as often as I should, but maybe that's what makes it so special when I do hear it.

Glad that 'God is a woman' has got into the top 4! (I expect it'll be 4th as there can't have been many people who gave anything less than glowing scores for 'Into You', 'One Last Time' and 'no tears left to cry'). 'breathin' is v good too although not as essential as the other two 'Sweetener' singles.

 

'Break Free' is way too high, it is and always was a generic mess. It's a solid top 10 otherwise x

I don't really get 'breathin', every time I hear it/listen to it it just washes over me.

 

4 9.09 God is a woman

Highest: Jade (11), ...ready for it, Jonjo, Jordan Lee, blacksquare, George.keh, JulianNial, cqmerqn, SamJudd, Jupiter, HarryEzra, Bré & Jay (10) / Lowest: LMLou (5)

 

Quite honestly I should have left this one for Miss Jade and her 11, if there is anybody I know that LOVES this song, is my fellow mod. Looking forward to seeing you fan girl very quickly Jade. :lol:

 

I had to include that performance because It has me gagging every. single. time.

 

'God is a woman' served as the second single from 'sweetener' and thank God she secured it. Originally originally... originally, it was the beat was dropped by Max Martin's team to be used as a rap beat for no specific male rap artist, with the verse to be sang by a female singer. The track was then recorded by Camila Cabello, where it may have been intended for her second album, before Camila supposedly handed the track over to Ari. Ariana claims that one of the reasons she chose it as second single is because it was Nonna Marjorie's favourite track from the album.

 

I will say, at first I, like most of us, thought "This isn't as good as no tears..." but oh boy is it a grower. I'm actually pretty shocked that it wasn't a huge #1, but then you may argue that if 'no tears' didn't do it, then this didn't have a chance, but the hype was definitely there. You guys LOVE it also, scoring an average of over 9, with twelve of you awarding 10s alongside Jade's 11, also a hand full of 9s and 9.5s with the lowest score being a modest 5 from LMLou.

Edited March 16, 20205 yr by JulianNial

God Is A Woman is a song I love but not as much as the other 2 Sweetener singles. I am so happy that Ari got to record it and not some random rapper though.

 

The video is perfect though (apart from the screaming beaver).