Ariana Grande was born on June 26, 1993 in Boca Raton, Florida. Her full name is Ariana Grande-Butera. She is an American singer and actress. Grande started to sing when she was 3-years-old. However, she actually began her career as a singer/artist when she was 13 years of age. When she turned 15, she was involved in a Broadway Musical Production of 13, where she played the role of Charlotte. Then, she acted in a couple of TV parts, which helped her land the role of Cat on the Nickelodeon television series Victorious (2009). She also sang on the soundtrack to the show. After Victorious ended in 2013, Grande decided to pause her acting career and to focus on her singing as a path to becoming a pop-star sensation. She has since skyrocketed to fame and released five albums: Yours Truly (2013), My Everything (2014), Dangerous Woman (2016), Sweetener (2018) and Thank U, Next (2019).
Her first album Yours Truly entered the top 200 on the US Billboard charts. This album has led to a single named “The Way” which was a hit in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. After she released her second album, the song named “My Everything” was a number one hit song in the US and charted in the top 10 in 24 other countries. In 2014, Grande released her third single “Problem,” which placed her in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and gave her the most top 10 singles of any artist in 2014. Then she had her first world tour, The Honeymoon Tour, to promote her album My Everything. In 2016, her third album, Dangerous Woman, was produced, and again, charted at number two on the Billboard 200. Grande had a second world tour in 2017, to promote her single “Dangerous Woman.” In 2018, she began to work on her fourth album, Sweetener, along with Pharrell Williams. This album led to the achievement of Grande’s first Grammy Award (for Best Pop Vocal Album), at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. In the same year, she released another album named Thank U, Next as her fifth album. The title song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, where it stayed for seven non-consecutive weeks.
What role does she serve?
What makes Ariana Grande so popular is her amazing and strong voice and her personal talents. Grande has a whistle register and a four octave soprano vocal range. She is very talented and she sings her songs naturally without using electronic tools like Auto-Tune. She has the ability to switch her tone of voice from low to high and vice versa. She can hit notes that not a lot of people in this world can do, such as B5 and G♯5. That’s another reason why she is so popular. When the song “Yours Truly” was first released, there were critics who compared Ariana Grande with Mariah Carey because of her voice, wide vocal range, and musical material. However, Grande said that if we listen and compare both of their music, we will notice that their voices are not the same. Grande also has her own style of singing and performing. As stated by Jason Robert Brown in a 2016 Time magazine article, “No matter how much you are underestimated … you are going to open your mouth and that unbelievable sound is going to come out. That extraordinary, versatile, limitless instrument that allows you to shut down every objection and every obstacle.” Moreover, Beyonce herself has mentioned that “She [Ariana Grande] will be the next spotlight, after me of course.”
Musical Selection
“Dangerous Woman”
Released: March 11, 2016
Recorded: MXM Studios (Stockholm, Sweden)
Genre: Pop, R&B, and Retro-soul
Label: Republic
Songwriters: Johan Carlsson, Max Martin, and Ross Golan
Producers: Max Martin and Johan Carlsson
“Focus”
Released: October 30, 2015
Recorded: MXM Studios (Los Angeles, California) and Wolf Cousins Studios (Stockholm, Sweden)
Genre: Pop
Label: Republic
Songwriters: Savan Kotecha, Peter Svensson, Max Martin, Ilya Salmanzadeh, Ratpac-Dune Entertainment, and La Petite Reiner
Producers: Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh
Personal Opinion and Musical Elements
In the song “Dangerous Woman,” it contains elements of mid-tempo pop, R&B and retro soul with strong influences of rock music. The tempo of the song swings at a rate of 67 beats per minute. The meter of the song is 6/8. “Dangerous Woman” is written in the E minor key, where the vocal range goes from D3 to B5. I am very impressed when she hits B5, it sounds perfect to me because her voice is so powerful without voice-drop. Repetition is used throughout the chorus, when Grande repeated the phrase “Somethin’ ’bout you makes me feel like a dangerous woman.” In addition, there is a bridge to the song contains a guitar solo, which fits this song perfectly. Compared to “Focus,” the tempo of the song swings at a moderate rate of 98 beats per minute. The meter of the song is 4/4. “Focus” is written in the key of G♯ minor, where Grande’s voice ranges from C♯4 to G♯5. The instrumentation used in this song features trombone, saxophone, trumpet, percussion, handclaps and a cowbell.
In my opinion, I like both songs; however, I like “Dangerous Woman” more because of the meaning of the lyrics. I personally think that it has a good content and meaning, and it encourages many women to move forward to better relationships. As Grande herself says: “ This song is about an empowered woman who meets another person that brings out a different side of her. It’s her decision to put her fears aside and explore these new feelings. It’s about letting someone into your life in an intimate and vulnerable way and not letting that take away from your independence and strength.”
Sources:
“Ariana Grande.” Singers.com, www.singers.com/performers/Ariana-Grande/.
“Her Journey.” Ariana Grande, arianagrandeii.weebly.com/her-journey.html.
Moore, Tony. “Ariana Grande.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 26 May 2020, www.biography.com/musician/ariana-grande.
“Ariana Grande.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 July 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariana_Grande.
“Dangerous Woman (Song).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 June 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangerous_Woman_(song).
“Focus (Ariana Grande Song).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 July 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_(Ariana_Grande_song).
MUS 200X 
Very good!
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I enjoyed reading your blog post. It’s pretty amazing that her soprano vocal range contains four octaves. I read that an average person that sings regularly probably has around two octaves, it’s crazy that Ariana Grande has four. I also preferred “Dangerous Women” over the second one because I really liked how she went to that high B5. For most of the song she sings in the 4th octave of the piano but then she would jump up to B5 and hold it for a few seconds. That contrast sounds pretty to me, especially since she did it so effortlessly. Most people that tries to sing that high would sound way different.
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I love Ariana Grande and I also agree about “Dangerous Women.” It is my favorite song from her by far because of the meaning as well. I love Ariana’s range and vocal pure talent. I love that you pointed out her whistle register and 4 octave soprano range because most people do not know that about her. They know she has range but not that much range. Lol. Really thorough and great laid out blog post. Great job!
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Wow, I honestly didn’t know that Ariana Grande was so talented! I’ve only heard her singles that have played on the radio. While a couple have been catchy, I don’t think they showcased her talent as much as some of her other songs (now that I’m listening!). I had no idea she had a 4 octave soprano range-that’s incredible. Not to mention, if she’s being compared to Mariah Carey and Beyonce has high hopes for her career…that’s definitely impressive.
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