Arianators, rejoice! Ariana Grande released her much-anticipated album, Sweetener, and has based much of it on her life experiences. Some of her music deals with anxiety and others talk about how she’s a woman in the entertainment industry. Many fans of Grande have most likely followed her since the Victorious era, where she played music student Cat Valentine on the hit TV show. Grande got the part because of her stunning vocals, and once the show ended, she continued writing music. Now with nine Billboard Top 40 hit singles, she has acquired a large fanbase, meaning she can reach out to a lot of people. After years as a singer, Grande is now able to talk about deeper topics in her new album through her songs and interviews.

Most musicians, actors, and celebrities face anxiety at some point in their life, just like ordinary people! One thing these talented individuals know how to do is channel their hardships into their work. Authors write about it, actors overcome it by preparing for their roles, and musicians create songs about it. The first single off of Sweetener was the hit “No Tears Left to Cry”. In the song, she spoke about how she was done crying over the problems in her life and was finally at peace. We’ve seen artists speak about this before, such as Billie Eilish’s “Lovely ft. Khalid”, where she spoke about trying to break down her emotional walls, and Shawn Mendes’ “In My Blood”, which some would even call a cry for help. To clarify, Ariana Grande influences a lot of people, and by releasing a song like this, she’s showing all of her fans that it’s okay to cut out toxic people in life, because internal peace should come first. Another single in her album that deals with anxiety is the song “Breathin’”. The lyrics say, “I can so overcomplicate, people tell me to medicate… Just keep breathin’ and breathin’ and breathin’ and breathin’.” These lyrics are referring to her stressful life, and how sometimes she just needs to pause and keep on breathing.

Some of the most popular songs in Sweetener have a pretty similar theme—power. In “Successful”, the song consists of her praising herself and others in the music industry, and it shows that if she can make music and succeed at a young age, so can everyone else. Fans love her new phase of musical messages! Hitting No. 1 on Billboard Top 200 charts, it is no surprise that this open mind of Ariana is making her even more successful in her own way.