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Thursday, May 26, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS
Ariana Grande steps up
her game on ‘Dangerous’
MUSIC REVIEW
Artist breaks the
scene with soulful
album
By SAM ROSENBERG
Daily Arts Writer
In the past few months, female-
driven pop has been on a winning
streak. While there were a few
duds
(like
Meghan
Trainor’s dull
sophomore
record Thank
You),
2016
has
been
graced
with
the
presence
of
several
pop
gems
from female artists. Australian
songstress
Sia
continued
her
burgeoning notoriety with the
powerful This is Acting while
Gwen Stefani returned to the
music scene with her impressive
comeback This is What the Truth
Feels
Like.
The
two
biggest
surprises of this year in music
came from Rihanna and Beyoncé,
both of whom released records
without much public warning:
the
jarringly
inventive
Anti
and the politically conscious,
deeply personal and all-around
fantastic visual album Lemonade,
respectively. That being said,
there’s one artist who also seems
to stand out from the pack:
22-year-old actress/singer Ariana
Grande.
After her role as the naive
redhead Cat on the kids show
Victorious, Grande made her way
toward the top of the music ranks
with her sweet 2013 debut Yours
Truly, subsequently establishing
her place in pop with 2014’s
stunning My Everything. Now,
with her third record Dangerous
Woman, Grande further sheds
her innocent Nickelodeon child
star image by evolving into a
sophisticated,
mature
modern
woman, ready to sink her teeth
into newer, more daring material.
Like My Everything, Dangerous
Woman
explores
female
empowerment
and
unrequited
love through glossy production,
catchy
lyrics
and
Grande’s
signature glass-shattering vocals.
But instead of simply rehashing
My Everything’s boldness, Grande
pushes
Dangerous
Woman
to
edgier
thematic
and
musical
territory, in which the singer
boasts a more feminist message
about
how
women
who
are
deemed “dangerous” are unafraid
to speak the truth, especially when
it comes to power, independence
and sexuality. This unapologetic
energy, coupled with Grande’s
glowing ambition, is what makes
Dangerous Woman a thrilling
example of the many directions
pop music is taking in 2016.
The
11-song
album,
which
includes
four
bonus
tracks,
experiments
with
different
genres, such as R&B on the
bouncy
‘90s
throwback
“Be
Alright,” trap on the glittery,
Future-featuring
“Everyday”
and reggae on the groovy, Nicki
Minaj-assisted “Side to Side.”
In addition to using beats from
previous
Grande
collaborators
Tommy
Brown
(“Honeymoon
Avenue”),
Ilya
Salmanzadeh
(“Problem”) and Kid Ink producer
Twice as Nice, Dangerous Woman
works well thanks to Swedish
pop maestro Max Martin, who
provides the album with his hit-
making magic touch, both in its
songwriting and sound. He layers
Dangerous Woman’s instrumental
skeleton with lush guitar riffs on
the indelible title track, throbbing
electro-heavy synths on the sultry
club banger “Into You” and head-
bopping horns on the record’s best
song “Greedy.”
Though
many
songs
off
Dangerous
Woman
reach
moments of profundity, there are
some elements that bring them
down a tad. The lullaby opener
“Moonlight” (the alleged original
title of the album) harkens back
to Grande’s tween pop roots with
its twinkly strings and breathy
harmonies.
But
the
track’s
romantic, gooey core gives it a
sentimental,
borderline-cheesy
appeal. The gorgeous, low-key
hip-hop jingle “Let Me Love
You” opens with a devastating
line about post-breakup anxiety
(“I just broke up with my ex /
Now that I’m single, I don’t really
know what’s next”) and continues
with a slow, sexy and stuttering
rhythm, until the song halts when
an
unnecessary
feature
from
Lil Wayne pops up. Penultimate
song “Sometimes” is so-so in
its execution, with its acoustic
undertones giving the track a
bland sound.
Fortunately, those are minor
issues given Grande’s musical
prowess. While My Everything
touched
on
cutesy
double
entendres and subtle suggestive
references,
Grande
is
much
more explicit about her sexual
conquests
and
self-image
on
Dangerous Woman, even drawing
some parallels to In The Zone-era
Britney Spears. The title song can
be interpreted as both a confident
girl-power anthem and a song
about pegging (“Taking control of
this kind of moment / I’m locked
and loaded / Completely focused,
my mind is open”). On bonus track
“Bad Decisions,” Grande asks
cheekily, “Ain’t you ever seen a
princess be a bad bitch?”
Dangerous Woman could have
simply been churned from the
standardized conveyor belt of pop
as another formulaic album. Yet
Grande understands very clearly
how to structure her craft that
heeds to her audience’s desires
while
maintaining
her
own
artistic integrity. Each track feels
wholesome and complete, not
only because of the spectacular
production or Grande’s formidable
vocal range, but also because of
the ideas conveyed in each song.
It’s not necessarily a thought-
provoking or compelling album,
but Dangerous Woman showcases
Grande’s
ability
to
shape
a
listener’s understanding of the
importance of a woman’s choice
to sing, dance and speak without
being undermined by critics and
sexist trolls.
‘Grey’s’ matures
By DANIELLE YACOBSON
Daily Arts Writer
Why mess with a good thing? As
the twelfth season of “Grey’s Anat-
omy” comes to a close, it’s clear the
doctors of Grey-Sloan Memorial
Hospital
are
here to stay
for the long
haul. The sea-
son finale was
more subdued
than
those
that
came
before it, lack-
ing the dra-
matic punches
that
Shonda
Rhimes,
the
series’ creator, delivers oh-so-well.
But, perhaps, the episode called
“Family Affair” is the beginning of
a Renaissance within the “Grey’s”
world, one that has been bloom-
ing throughout the twelfth season.
More nuanced and mature, the
show has entered a new era.
Going back 10 years, Meredith
Grey (Ellen Pompeo, “Daredevil”)
was still rocking the early-2000s
side bangs and sneaking around
with McDreamy in on-call rooms
and the show felt as young and
perky as its interns. The episodic
structure split up its time between
medicine and the characters’ dra-
matic personal lives, with surgery
centered at the core of the series.
The medicine was teaching the
naive interns about surgery just
as much as it was guiding them
through their own problems. The
two were never separate.
But that was over a decade ago,
and the interns that have made it
to the present day are big-shot sur-
geons with “grown-up” problems.
As the series has taken the time to
explore storylines following the
death of a spouse, custody battles
and personal addiction, the medi-
cine has fallen to the background.
But maybe that’s ok, because the
new “Grey’s” is able to develop the
characters, using surgery as a tool
to grow into themselves as people
rather than just doctors.
The finale seamlessly set up
this transition into the next sea-
son as the doctors left the hospi-
tal’s grounds for the majority of
the episode. Even the big, edge-
of-your-seat medical emergency
happened on Meredith’s living
room table (because when has
there ever been a baby delivery on
“Grey’s Anatomy” that has gone
smoothly?). These characters have
gone through everything together,
and the time has come to delve into
their relationships and provide
answers that are essential to the
show’s future. In a more-optimis-
tic-than-usual season finale, the
series left the audience with one
looming question that needs to be
answered in the stories to come:
Can you have more than one great
love?
Perhaps the biggest disappoint-
ment of season 12’s conclusion is
the announcement of Callie Tor-
res’ (Sara Ramirez, “Spiderman”)
break from the show. Although
both Ramirez and Rhimes left the
door open for the veteran “Grey’s”
to return, her absence will be a sig-
nificant loss to the show. As many
of the original cast members have
dwindled away from the series in
the past years, Callie Torres has
grown into a central and complex
character that has brought many
issues, both within the show’s sto-
rylines and in the Shondaland mis-
sion to normalize television, into
the conversation. Her role as a Lati-
na, homosexual female surgeon
has brought depth and diversity to
“Grey’s” that will be sorely missed.
Yet even as characters have
come and gone, the Shondaland
original has proven its viewers are
not ready to part with the decade-
long series. With steady ratings and
a Thursday night spot in television
real-estate gold, “Grey’s Anatomy”
is ready to tackle season 13 without
slowing down.
B
Grey’s
Anatomy
Season 12 Finale
Thursday at 8 p.m.
ABC
ABC
Who are these people and where’s McDreamy?
A-
Dangerous
Woman
Ariana Grande
Republic
“Ain’t you ever
seen a princess
be a bad bitch?”
TV REVIEW