Ariana Grande released her highly anticipated eight studio album today, petal. She collaborated with Ilya Salmanzadeh and Max Martin in the studio to make “something that is full life and growing through the cracks of something cold and hard and challenging”, Ariana says. At its roots this albums is about growing from where you are originally planted, where we are constantly navigating a world of chaos and judgement. When we let that judgment hinder our grown and we learn to fold ourselves into versions that seem unrecognizable to our original seeds, it can built a resentment and an unfiltered rage. Once that rage festers and eventually heals over a long period of time, you can find yourself coming back home and allowing yourself to grow from the grieving. Grande explores these themes in petal.
The opening track, “kiss me”, begins with a soft landing transition from her previous record eternal sunshine, with compelling and soothing instrumentals mixed beautifully with synths that will put you in a trans. Then at 21 seconds into the track there’s a sharp turn with a scratching of a record and listeners are jolted into a new era of an electric guitar and a dance-y feel. Ariana’s “kiss me” explores themes of feeling isolated and not belonging in the world, while a kiss can make her feel safe. She sings in the chorus “kiss me like you know there is goodbye / we could try to make make it all the way out / grab me like my life is on the line / we decide to make it all the way out”. With a party feel to this song, she’s finding a teammate fight along aside her in this world.
Fans are familiar with Grande’s first single from the album, “hate that i made you love me”. This song showcases Grande’s love/hate relationship with her own fans through out her own career. This song is acts like a sister song to her eternal sunshine single, “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)”. In both songs, particularly in “hate that i made you love me”, she breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to her audiance and then sits back to sit in silence with her truth. The cinematic music video premiered on June 1, staring actor Justin Long and directed by Christian Breslauer. The director previously worked on Grande’s eternal sunshine music videos.
The title track “petal”, debuted a new music video directed by Christian Breslauer, helping to build the world of the album. In this sparkles yet base heavy song, Grande explores her inner dialogue as an artist while healing through the craft of being a singer-songwriter. She sings, “all of my favorite stories end in some kind of catastrophe / but I don’t need someone to save me / cause this music and i will never die / it’s such a f-cked / situation / petal in the pavement”… “I’m not a victim b-tch / practically drowning in my blessings”. This song its a brutal awakening where she is confidently saying out loud that she is enough as an artists in the music industry. The only validation that she needs is from herself.
“stay” is a sweet and sentimental track where Grande sings from a place of feeling secure in a loving relationship. with the direct lyrics she is explicit laying out her boundaries saying, “I don’t want to be just another corrective experience” … “I don’t want to be anywhere but by your side baby I / I just wanna stay this time / but can you keep me safe this time? / stay”. She is falling hard for this person and is stating what she needs. A lessons we can all learn.
“oh well” leans heavily back into the experimental synth sound that Ariana Grande has been teasing. Again with a dancy vibe, she articulates finding the beauty in the messy journey. Exploring the beginning of the end she sings “the bad guys all go to hell / good things can replace dysfunction, obsession / thanks but i’ll you right out / good luck on your way to hell / oh well”. Cleansing out the bad out of her system, whether it’s a person, a toxic mentality, or an unrecognizable character, she’s allowing the good to flourish in her life.
With a more slowed down and mellow instrumental approach to her sound, “big feeling” takes a deep dive into allowing emotional healing and availability exist in a relationship with another person. This song has a big band feel that will make your body sway side to side.
The next two tracks, “freak” and “warning signs interlude”, blend together perfectly when listening, giving listeners more of that cinamatic feeling. In “freak” shows imagery of growing with lyrics like “someday all the seeds will open / all of the life I’ve been denied of will bloom all around / unfrozen / how will it feel”. Grande is setting down the old fantasy and allowing herself to become who she is, a freak. Then the transition breathes into “warning signs interlude”, where she sings about possibly being blind to red flags and to patterns. Through “freak” and “warning signs interlude” she is learning what she is worth and making the choice to leave.
Then the mesmerizing vocals opening “like I do” with Ariana Grande making friends with her consequences. In this track she is owning her power as a sexual woman. She’s allowing herself to hold space for the power that she has which then speaks to its next track “never get over me”. “never get over me” is a charming and bouncy tune that is about not letting someone’s actions that have hurt you in the past get over looked by a false narrative. Grande seems to be talking about forgiveness but not forgetting after a great deal of time has passed.
“bad thing (bunny hop)” takes another sharp turn from a sway back and forth dance feeling to a high energy that is upbeat and playful. This track as a summery feeling of falling. back in love with a new version of something or someone who use to breath bad smoke. It’s “bad” how good it feels. Grande is overjoyed and optimistic about the future while the past is healing from the heart break.
“nowhere, nobody”, the closing track, ties a nice bow on the album as it’s closure when it explores themes of healing, falling in love and reconnecting with yourself or with another person. In the chorus she isolates her vocals and speaks “deep breaths honey there’s no more running / and there’s nowhere with nobody else that I’d rather be / I’m taking you / deep breathes honey / we’ve at least til morning / course there’s nowhere / nobody else that I’d rather be with”
“petal” is available everywhere to listen to today. Ariana Grande is currently on Eternal Sunshine Tour and we should expect that she’ll be showcasing this new exciting album on the track list.
The Eternal Sunshine Tour Dates 2026:
8/3 – Chicago, IL – United Center
8/5 – Chicago, IL – United Center
8/15 – London, UK – The O2
8/16 – London, UK – The O2
8/19 – London, UK – The O2
8/20 – London, UK – The O2
8/23 – London, UK – The O2
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