9 November 2018
Much as how a Justin Bieber hat-trick dominated the top of our charts in late-2015 and early-2016, here’s the first of three number ones in quick succession from Ariana Grande. We can also draw parallels between Bieber and Grande as teen idols whose personal lives have been played out in public—though Ari has never made a show of herself with traffic cops or the Anne Frank Huis, ‘Thank U, Next’ starts by naming her famous real-life exes—and whose music and styles come with the familiar question of white acts profiting from cultural appropriation. (Grande is Italian-American.) On the whole, though, Grande has come across as the more likeable character of the two, if that isn’t to damn her with faint praise.
‘Thank U, Next’ is a fair representation of Ariana Grande’s better output: soufflé-light R&B-pop which mightn’t be filling but is easy on the palate and the ear. While still a roll-call of exes she’s glad to have exed, the track is good-natured, chilled, and sometimes even reflective. Though Ari’s imminent next two number ones may prove to be less to my taste, I can still give ‘Thank U, Next’ an Irish-style “grand”.
Before those two other Ari chart-toppers, though, Ireland’s 2018 Christmas number one and last of that year is a rather tasteless riff on outdated references to mental health, including in its title. By now, of course, it’s traditional for Ireland’s Christmas number one to be our most problematic pop-cultural moment of the year. (2018 is also the third calendar year in a row that no Irish act had a number one single in Ireland – the longest such absence since the mid-’80s.) Anyway, you can see what that track is in the ‘By date’ listing but it won’t be featured here in depth: no thank you; next.
