I’ve always considered myself to have a pretty diverse music
taste. But, as someone that’s been pretty obsessed with the whole ‘pop punk’
genre since my early teenage years, Ariana Grande definitely wasn’t someone
that I expected to be so impressed with.
I remember hearing her song ‘Put Your Hearts Up’ a few years
ago, and it was stupidly catchy and I couldn’t stop singing it to myself. It
was basically the definition of happy, bubblegum-pop. But, apart from that, it
wasn’t particularly memorable.
She came back to my attention earlier this year, when my 6
year old sister started watching the Nickelodeon show, ‘Victorious’, in which
Grande plays Cat Valentine. While yeah, the songs on the show are shamelessly
cheesy, they did remind me how great Ariana’s voice is. I ended up looking her
up again, and found she was on the verge of releasing her debut album, ‘Yours
Truly.’
I was slightly worried that, as someone who was already
established as a Nickelodeon star, Grande wouldn’t be able to break out of that
kid’s-pop mould with her album. I mean, for everyone like Demi Lovato, who’s
managed to forge herself a pretty credible music career and put her child star
status behind her, there’s legions of Disney and Nick stars than have attempted
music careers that have utterly fallen flat.
For Ariana Grande, that doesn’t seem to be a problem. Even
before the full album was released, songs like ‘The Way’ and ‘Baby I’ set the
tone for what seems to be a kind of 90s, r&b style album, a whole world
away from the cheesy Nickelodeon music. I’ve read a whole lot of comments and
reviews likening her to a young Mariah Carey, and while that’s a pretty huge
comparison to make, I feel pretty confident in saying Ariana more than lives up
to it. She’s got the look, and more importantly, the incredible vocal range
that definitely reminds me of the Mariah songs I used to listen to when I was
younger.
I was a little concerned that when the full album came out,
it would just be an overkill of Grande’s high vocal register. But, after
listening to ‘Yours Truly’ through a few times, I think it perfectly shows off
her versatility as a vocalist. While yeah, there are plenty of occasions where
her high register is used, there are also songs like ‘Tattooed Heart’, ‘Almost
Is Never Enough’ and ‘Honeymoon
Avenue’ that display a much more varied vocal
range that really proves Ariana’s voice is more than just a Mariah-wannabe
gimmick.
I do have one criticism of the album, and that’s the
inclusion of the song ‘Popular Song,’ with Grande worked on with Mika. Don’t
get me wrong, I absolutely love this song, and I think Mika and Ariana’s voices
sound incredible together. But, I just don’t think it fits in at all with the
whole 90s nostalgia theme that seems to run throughout the rest of the album. Maybe
it would have worked as a bonus track, but as it stands, it’s slapped right in
the middle of ‘Almost Is Never Enough’ and ‘Better Left Unsaid,’ and I think it
really takes a lot away from the flow of the album.
Aside from that, the album really is something that Grande
should be incredibly proud of. It’s clear just how much hard work she’s put in
to making sure ‘Yours Truly’ is exactly what she wanted it to be, and its’
definitely paid off. As far as I’m concerned, Grande deserves every bit of the
success that’s inevitably coming her way with the release of this album.
Check out Ariana singing 'Tattooed Heart' live on the Today Show for an example of just how incredible her voice is.
