Thank U, Ariana

Ariana Grande has well and truly treated her fans by releasing another album only 6 months after her last.

Image result for ariana grande
Ariana Grande via Flickr

thank u, next is Sweetener’s older, wiser and more jaded sister. It feels like the perfect follow up to such a record, and I love that she isn’t afraid to talk openly about everything she’s been through since May 2017.

Where Sweetener was mostly all smiles and lovey dovey, TUN is the opposite. Ariana now sings openly about her own flaws within a relationship in needy, discusses her struggles with mental illness in fake smile and gives listeners a harrowing, intimate look into how the death of ex-boyfriend Mac Miller affected her relationship with then-fiancé Pete Davidson in ghostin.

The album starts of strong with imagine which really sets the tone for the rest of the album. Tbh my only complaint is that break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored is the closer instead of thank u, next itself or needy.

The album’s standout tracks are NASA because I’m a sucker for some good word play, in my head because WOW those vocals and ghostin because I love how open she was about her grief and the effects it had on her personal life.

NASA by Ariana Grande

Overall, I really love thank u, next. I love her honesty and all the new things she tried out on this record. The only thing that let it down for me was choosing 7 rings as a single and what song was the closer as I said before.

Ariana is an amazingly talented and strong woman, I’m so excited to see her in September and I hope she thrives this year because if anyone deserves it it’s her.

What do you guys think about thank u, next? Let me know!

Love always, Fiona X

2018 in review

Since 2018 is drawing to a close, I thought it would be fun to give a rundown of my favourite albums of this year! Some were released this year while others are ones that were released before but I really fell in love with in 2018.

Hope you enjoy!

Staying at Tamara’s — George Ezra

Favourite track: Pretty Shining People 

Youth is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect — Sundara Karma 

Favourite track: Happy Family  

Shawn Mendes — Shawn Mendes 

Favourite track: Like to Be You ft Julia Michaels

Youngblood — 5 Seconds of Summer

Favourite track: Monster Among Men or Valentine

American Teen — Khalid  

Favourite track: Angels or Winter

sweetener — Ariana Grande

Favourite track: pete davidson, r.e.m or better off. 

Bloom — Troye Sivan

Favourite track: Lucky Strike

Adventures in Real Time — Dylan Gardner

Favourite track: I’m Nothing Without You

The Pains of Growing — Alessia Cara

 Favourite track: All We Know and Growing Pains 

A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships — The 1975

Favourite track: Love It If We Made It, Give Yourself a Try or I Like America and It Likes Me

So, that was (a few of) my favourite albums of the year! 2018 was super exciting for music and I’m already looking forward to what the radios bring us in 2019.

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and Happy New Year when it comes!

Love always, Fiona xx

A Brief Inquiry Into the 1975’s new album

A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, the third album by the 1975, was released last Friday (Nov 30th). Despite having a very on/off relationship with this band I was so excited for this to be released. I ended up surprised (in a good way! mostly) when I listened to the full thing.

The singles — Give Yourself a Try, TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME, Love It If We Made It, Sincerity is Scary and It’s Not Living if it’s Not With You — were all great songs and were the perfect choices to build up hype for the album.

Love It If We Made It is easily one of my favourite songs the band has ever released. With nods to modern politics and pop culture, *that* dig at Donald Trump and an overall punchy feel, it’s no doubt that when tour comes around this song live will be one of those moments that you find yourself living over and over again in your head forever.

With that in mind, I couldn’t help but feel a bit let down at first listen. I felt like a lot of the songs were easily forgotten, especially Surrounded by Heads and Bodies. It was a bit meh first time around in all honesty.

After a few listens, A Brief Inquiry definitely grew on me. It’s their most ambitious album to date. While the filler tracks did let it down a little, the singles really saved it and it’s made me excited for them to drop Notes on a Conditional Form next year.

The 1975 are a great band and I urge you all to ignore the music snobs jumping on the We HaTe ThEm BeCaUsE iTs CoOl To NoW bandwagon because this record is full of such a good mix of fun and hard-hitting tracks. It’d be a real shame to miss out on it!

I hope you enjoyed my first post, feel free to send me songs/albums/artists to listen to for the future!

Love always, Fiona X

Listen to A Brief Inquiry … here:

iTunes

Spotify