Ariana Grande, a teenage actress turned singer, is bubblegum through-and-through-- and she’s already changed her preferred flavor. Her debut single, 2011’s 4 Non Blondes-sampling “Put Your Hearts Up”, was a generic Disney radio tune that she now publicly disavows. Apparently asserting control over her career, she's now dabbling in nostalgia, as is instantly clear when Hollywood strings and doo-wop vocals kick off the 1950s-styled “Honeymoon Avenue", the first song from her debut album. But why should you care about any of this? Because the minute her wordless vocals cut through the canned backing, they demand attention; her voice is smoky, world-weary and featherweight all at once, and the first thought that should come to mind is how did you stumble on this old Mariah Carey outtake?
That’s no small statement, but Grande is no small talent. And she’s self-aware. On an album that had a bit of a troubled gestation, the singer switched gears again through its making, opting for a 90s hip-hop soul vibe that awkwardly sits with the more doo-wop-indebted songwriting. Second single “Baby I” is most representative of where Grande is at this stage in her career. It’s a hodgepodge of familiar clichés, from its Britney-esque “yeah yeah yeahs” to the punchy horn riffs that somehow melt into a staggered hip-hop verse. It’s a cross-generational mess of influences, and all the better for it; Grande’s boundless energy means she can power through like no one else, tying hooks into knots with her voice as if it were nothing.
Her four-octave range is almost ludicrously powerful, and though it still feels like untapped potential, she has admirable control for a 20-year-old. Though her songs are simple, every time she runs across a repeat phrase, she’ll attack it differently, and her melismatic loops and athletic scales breathe life into even the most staid of lyrics. Even the most hackneyed songs, like the Grease-calibre cheese of “Daydreamin", are lifted by her intonation, and when she really sounds like she believes it, the results are fiery. Album highlight “Piano”-- a surefire feel-good radio hit in the vein of Katy Perry, but stripped lean-- benefits from Grande at her most impassioned, turning a charming conceit into a life-or-death matter as she shrieks “If I got my piano I know I’ll be okay!” Even this one feels irrepressibly old-fashioned, even if it's not clear exactly what era she's pining for this time-- how many 20 year old pop stars sing about dancing to a piano?
