Positions

Positions fits neatly in the pop princess’ catalogue and feels like a worthy continuation of her story. The narratives (much like the vocals) are lush, filled with graceful twists and turns, plenty of side characters to keep our attention, and a star worth rooting for.

Grande laid bare may well be seen as a stopgap in her canon, using taboo to checkmate her past trauma, but it does pull off the rare feat of at least sounding effortless.

With little conflict and few psychological insights, Positions zeroes in on the enviable confidence that only pop stars on top of the world and with nothing to lose can afford. It's easy to write it off as empty calories, but pop has always been described in such terms: cake, candy, chocolate, confection. Positions isn't a "sweetener" but pure sugar.

For someone so skilled at using social media to cultivate fans’ interest in her personal life, it’s striking — and more than a little moving — to hear her dreaming of seclusion. ... Though Grande’s subject matter shifts after “Shut Up,” the song’s Disney-like strings carry through the rest of “Positions,” which is brighter and sprightlier than the comparatively bleary “Thank U, Next.” ... Prudes can take comfort in the fact that Grande’s sexual liberation hasn’t come at the expense of her winningly earnest theater-kid eccentricities.

“Positions” isn’t quite the reinvention that “Thank U Next” was, but it continues Grande’s effort to make the mainstream pop album a looser, weirder and more conversational space. ... Many pop stars attempt to take their sound to the next level by making increasingly grand and bombastic big-tent statements. Grande has succeeded largely by doing just the opposite.

positions has hints of classical and R&B — staples of Grande's previous work. Songs like the title track and "love language" weave in orchestral strings, violins and catchy backbeats to elevate the listening experience, effortlessly meshes these contrasting genres to keep her pop sound distinctive.

While thank u, next is probably her best work – and it will probably remain that way forever – Positions is Grande’s most carefree, most playful, most mature work to date.

While the album is pretty much removed from her usual major pop moments, it’s more refreshing that way, and there’s more of a connective-unit feel to Positions than much of her previous work. After all, Grande has always been an album artist, and this one is yet another to whistle home about.

Positions doesn’t broaden Grande’s sound the way her past few albums have, and it isn’t buoyed by a heroic anthem, like “no tears left to cry,” or guided by a specific mission, like how “thank u, next” honored her relationship history. The record resonates partly because it doesn’t weld grand statements out of living with trauma; it narrows in on the wobbly path of pleading with yourself, the begging and bargaining of healing.

Grande is making no effort to be discreet, instead explicitly owning her sexuality—the album is called Positions, after all. The juxtaposition of beautiful violin sounds and risqué lyrics has become one of Grande’s signature sounds, and it suits her well.

Positions is minor growth, major strength and a solid step forward in the right direction for one pop’s most exciting stars.

There is be little risk and reward on Positions, yet Grande's simple desire to memorialize the beginnings of a new love in real-time, and the new fears it entails, has allowed her to create a body of work not beholden to the narrative of resilience. It might not make for her most arresting album nor her most dramatic, but it’s certainly her most sensuous.

Positions isn’t a perfect album (and far from an instant classic in the vein of Sweetener or Thank U, Next), but the LP is a more-than-worthy stepping stone to whatever comes next for the artist.