翻譯：Nomanlandever

原文鏈接：http://robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=ariana+grande

專輯綜評

• Sweetener?[Republic, 2018]?A-

• Thank U, Next?[Republic, 2019]?***

Sweetener（甜到翻）?[Republic, 2018]
Since my secondhand teenpop fandom dried up well before my daughter's enthusiasms dwindled down to One Direction, I ignored Grande until a mixed phalanx of market analysts and poptimist diehards declared this 2018 album pure pop for track-and-hook people. This consensus motivated me to replicate saturation airplay my way--shelling out for the CD and sticking it in the changer until I was ready to cry uncle. A similar ploy got me nowhere with One Direction, their albums so bland I quickly forgot they existed. But Grande is pleasant in such a physically uncommon and technically astute way. Her pure, precise soprano is warm without burr or melisma, its mellow sweetness never saccharine or showy as it strolls through a front-loaded garden of sonic delights where Nicki Minaj outgrowls Missy Elliott and Pharrell Williams's inventions are more subtle yet also more thrilling than Max Martin's. And as she shares self-healing advisories like "No Tears Left to Cry," "Get Well Soon," and especially "Breathin" with all the fans who lived through her terrorized 2017 Manchester concert, you never doubt that the details of the healing are sharpened by own earned traumas.?A-

在我女兒對One Direction的熱情消退前，我對青少年流行巨星的花癡情感早已不復存在。所以我一直忽視Ariana Grande直到最近發(fā)現(xiàn)許多形形色色的市場分析師和流行音樂熱衷者都一致認為這是張2018年老少皆宜的流行本色的專輯。這種共識激勵了我以自己的方式收聽這張專輯——花錢買CD，把它放在換碟機里，隨后我便聽得淚眼蒙眬。類似的專輯策略根本不是One Direction那掛藝人會嘗試的，他們的專輯枯燥至極，我很快就忘記了它們的存在。但Ariana Grande狀態(tài)極佳地以精湛技藝展現(xiàn)出她非同尋常的快樂。她純凈，精準的高音是暖心的，不帶任何顫音或裝飾音。嗓音的醇厚甜蜜絲毫不過火或俗氣，輕而易舉地就能高水準地唱出悅耳的音樂。專輯里Nicki Minaj表現(xiàn)壓過了Missy Elliot，Pharrell Williams比Max Martin的制作更為精妙和新鮮。并且當你聽到她在"No Tears Left to Cry," "Get Well Soon,"和特別是“Breathin”的歌曲中向挺過2017年曼城演唱會爆炸案的粉絲們分享自我治愈的經驗時，你永遠不會懷疑 治愈的歷程里遍布著荊棘叢生的內在創(chuàng)傷。A-

Thank U, Next（謝謝你，下一位）?[Republic, 2019]
Maturing from multitracked studio trickeration to straight love songs--love songs an old grouch might complain are all too superstar-specific. ("Thank U, Next," "Ghostin")?***

從狂甩花招的錄制歌曲到流露真情告白情歌的成熟穩(wěn)重——一些愛發(fā)牢騷的老家伙可能會抱怨這張專輯的情歌都過于巨星風范，不接地氣。***

推薦曲："Thank U, Next," "Ghostin"