Random J Mix: Ariana Grande

So, Ariana Grande’s “Yes, And?”.

The song as it was presented on day of release, I was not a fan of. The instrumental? I adore. I think the beat and the production is great. But the lyrics and Ariana’s performance on the song just don’t do anything for me. I wrote a whole review on the specifics of what about “Yes, And?” just didn’t work for me. But something I only touched on briefly was the general structure of the song, which feels a little at odds with the style of song that it is.

“Yes, And?” is very much a dance record in sound. But structurally, outside of the chorus, there aren’t any real periods of the song to just dance, at least not in the manner and style of which the sound is geared towards, which is voguing. And even with the extended, it just throws an extended section at the beginning and end, but nothing in the middle. And even the sections at the beginning and end aren’t really for the ballroom girls, because they’re so sparse.

I’m probably making no sense whatsoever. But lemme still try to elaborate on what I’m getting at and use another song as an example. Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul”.

“Break My Soul” is structured in a way where it wants you to dance and it almost tells you the way in which in wants you to move. You shake your ass at the very start. You do a lil’ dad style side to side shuffle for the first verse. You vogue down for that first hook. You get ratchet during the rap of the second verse. Then you vogue down right up until the refrain, at which point you shake your ass until the song ends. The song commands that you dance and everything about how it’s structured informs this, as it should. It is a gay ass house song. Where-as with “Yes, And?” there wasn’t this same consideration. It’s house in sound, but pop in structure, which makes sense for an Ariana Grande song which is produced by Max Martin. But it creates this disconnect in terms of being something that the crowd who are about the sound, who Ariana wants to embrace it, can fully vibe with, without cutting the song up and changing it themselves.

My extended mix is not presented as a definitive mix by any means. But it’s more in line with the direction I think the official extended mix should have gone in structurally, in terms of being something which has clear moments for the gxrls to take the floor. With some extra bits thrown in to better capture the essences of the sound.

My extended mix is the only version of the song I listen to. And even so, I find myself forwarding through the parts at which Ariana sings. I’m all about the intro, the breakdown and the outro.