Thursday 10/29: Ariana Grande—"Positions"
Today, we share our thoughts on a new song by Ariana Grande. You know who she is.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him) and Eric Bennett (they/them). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. Now we’re, also a M-F newsletter about songs. Our format is simple: a link to a song and a short take from each of us about what we think of it. Each day of the week has a corresponding genre: Monday is indie, Tuesday is punk, Wednesday is hip-hop, Thursday is pop, and Friday is misc.
Today, we share our thoughts on a new song by Ariana Grande. You know who she is.
Ariana Grande—"Positions"
Eric Bennett:
There are a lot of artists I can say I needed to hear from this year; artists I love or ones who haven’t released music in some years. If I were to name one artist who I explicitly did not need to hear from in 2020, it is without question Ariana Grande. This isn’t because I don’t like her, but because I do. I worry she might fall into what I think of as The Rihanna Schedule.
From 2008 until 2012, not a year went by without a Rihanna release. Sure, they started with modern classic-tier strength (Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded) but as time wore on the quality degraded, each album feeling more like a vessel for two-to-three singles. After the quick succession of Ariana’s last two albums sweetener and thank u, next, it stands to reason the quality of her work risks degrading if it’s churned out so quickly.
“Positions” feels like a calculated choice for a lead single. It’s not nearly as bombastic as “thank u, next” or “no tears left to cry,” but decidedly more laid back. The cool delivery, plucky guitar, and midtempo beats suggest an Ariana era focused less on making a show of itself, putting more emphasis on the music. Though, if the speculation that the way she says “repeat history” is to be believed, I may be very wrong. The song is… fine. It’s got a nice hook but ultimately feels forgettable. Here’s to hoping that we get Ariana’s ANTI after this.
Eli Enis:
Ariana is still a lowercase girl on “positions”, and the song does sound more intimate and suave than its lead single predecessors. I’m going to take a guess that COVID has something to do with this. After a year of pop stars releasing records that should be heard in the club with the underlying presumption that, “Well, maybe next month they will be,” and the date for society’s return getting pushed back indefinitely, maybe Ariana and her team decided it was time to get smart. “positions” is a song for banging, ya’ll. Sure, on its surface it’s about gender roles and girlbossing, but it’s a sexy song with the hook of “switching them positions for you.” I think the innuendo is there and track’s silky, shimmying groove is better suited for the bedroom than the dancefloor. I think it’s totally conceivable that artists and their teams are getting wise to the fact that club bangers still feel weird, and I think that Ariana is likely just one of many pop artists who are eschewing stadium anthems for songs that don’t sound out-of-place in the background of a Zoom call.