Dangerous Woman (album)

Background and development

Grande began recording songs for the album soon after the completion of her previous album, My Everything (2014), and continued throughout the summer and fall of 2015, between stops on her Honeymoon Tour, with her friends Tommy Brown and Victoria Monét. "Focus", which was originally intended to be the lead single from the album, was released digitally on October 30, 2015. The song debuted and peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100, selling 113,000 copies in its first week in the United States. Grande finished work on the album on January 21, 2016.

Titling and artwork

The album was originally to be titled Moonlight. On Jimmy Kimmel Live! in January 2016, however, Grande revealed that she was no longer sure of the name, and that she might re-title the album after another song on the album. She announced the new title of the album, Dangerous Woman, on February 22, 2016, through her Snapchat and Twitter accounts. The following day, she posted a photo on Instagram with a caption quoting Egyptian feminist writer Nawal El Saadawi's 1975 novel, Woman at Point Zero as follows: "They said, 'You are a savage and dangerous woman.' I am speaking the truth. And the truth is savage and dangerous". As to why the album name was changed, Grande stated that it had to do with portraying herself as a stronger person and to empower fans, saying:

"'Moonlight' is a lovely song, and it's a lovely title. It's really romantic, and it definitely ties together the old music and the new music, but 'Dangerous Woman' is a lot stronger. ... To me, a dangerous woman is someone who's not afraid to take a stand, be herself and to be honest."

The album artwork features Grande wearing latex bunny mask whilst portraying a very seductive image in contrast to the covers of her previous albums. In a interview with Chris Martins for Billboard, Grande explained that the cover was inspired by Super Bunny costume: "The Super Bunny is my superhero, or supervillain -- whatever I’m feeling on the day,” says Grande. “Whenever I doubt myself or question choices I know in my gut are right -- because other people are telling me other things -- I’m like, ‘What would that bad bitch Super Bunny do?’ She helps me call the shots.” She said.

Composition

Dangerous Woman features 18 tracks—the standard version contains eleven tracks, while the other editions contribute a combined seven additional songs. The album represents a departure from the '90s Contemporary R&B strongly present in the sound of its predecessor My Everything (2014); Dangerous Woman spans a variety of musical genres not explored in Grande's previous works. An example of this is the track "Greedy", which incorporates a disco-influenced pop sound. The R&B influences can be heard in several songs, including "Let Me Love You". In his review for Entertainment Weekly, Nolan Feeney noted that while My Everything "suffered for trying to be everything", on Dangerous Woman, "with a streamlined team of hitmakers such as Max Martin, she [Grande] pulls off pop, R&B, reggae, and house—all without overextending herself or pandering to trends". Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine wrote that Grande "too often tries to look and sound more mature than she is," observing that "the songs on the album's latter half are limited by their strict adherence to contemporary pop and R&B trends."

The album opens with the doo wop throwback track "Moonlight", with Lewis Corner from Digital Spy describing the song as a "50s-inspired sway, which blossoms with its dainty string plucks and romantic violins. Critics noted that the sound present in the song is reminiscent of Grande's debut album Yours Truly. The reviewer from Sputnikmusic described it as "oozing with 1950s vibes and allowing Ariana’s gorgeous vocals to do all the heavy lifting." The writer compared the song to the Yours Truly song "Tattooed Heart", commenting that "although it functions as a serviceable opener, it lacks that addictingly sweet chorus to elevate it beyond being just a pretty introduction to the record." "Dangerous Woman", also the lead single and title track, is a mid-tempo slow-jam pop and R&B song. The recording has a 6
8 time signature that "falls neatly at the intersection of bubblegum and rock and roll", while having an arena rock chorus and a guitar solo in its bridge. The third track "Be Alright" is a song heavily inspired by 1990's deep house, also having Chicago house, and dance-pop influences. Christopher R. Weingarten of Rolling Stone went further, calling it a "tropical house swagger-jack." Lyrically, "Be Alright" is a carefree song about being optimistic. During the first lines, she sings: "Midnight shadows / When finding love is a battle / But daylight, is so close / So don’t you worry ‘bout a thing." "Into You" is a dance-pop song, with elements of EDM. According to Digital Spy's Lewis Corner, it features "a thudding club beat, lurking synths and sharp clicks." It starts with "a minimal club beat" before "crescendoing into [a] thumping chorus," where "an uptempo disco backline explodes into a monstrous club-ready hook," as noted by Complex's Jessie Morris. Jessica Goodman of Entertainment Weekly added that the song also has "new-age disco beats." Lyrically, the song features Grande singing of "waiting for her love interest to stop the conversation and finally make a move."

"Side to Side" is a reggae-pop song features guest vocals by Trinidadian-American rapper Nicki Minaj. Lyrically, it talks about soreness after sex. In an interview with MTV News reporter Gaby Wilson, Grande explained "that whole song is about riding leading to soreness". "Let Me Love You", a duet with rapper Lil Wayne, is "a slow-paced sultry jam", having a laid back R&B melody, delicate piano chords, electro-beats, smooth, deep bass, a steady beat, trap-lite sound, hip hop beats, and interspersed vocals. Lyrically, "Let Me Love You" talks about getting over an ex and laying on the chest of someone new. While "lying on some hunk's chest", she's just chilling and "looking for love", mostly "a one-night stand". The disco-pop song "Greedy" received positive comments by music critics, who praised its production comparing to Mark Ronson's Uptown Funk featuring Bruno Mars (2014). An example of the comparison, is the Billboard's critic credited as K.A, who described the song as a "throwback trifle, which casts Grande as a lady Bruno Mars." "Leave Me Lonely" features guest appearance from Macy Gray, musically is an R&B track with soul influences. Describing the song, Brittany Spanos from Rolling Stone wrote, "if you combined these songs with similarly retro material from her debut record ("Honeymoon Avenue,'" "Tattooed Heart") you could probably make a good case for Grande as a rock-friendly voice that could be critically adored like "Adele" or "Amy Winehouse"." "Everyday" featuring rapper Future, is a woozy electropop and trap song. The music is built around a grinding, tinned dance beat and a thrumming bassline. The song's lyrics are explicit and a paean to sexual satisfaction. Grande illustrates a steamy love affair and lathers on flirtation. During his verse, Future raps about lavish vacations and late-night endeavors, describing himself as a bad guy ideally suited to Grande's needs.

The tenth track "Sometimes" was described by Lewis Corner of Digital Spy as an R&B song; Annie Zaleski of The A.V. Club noted the song features folky acoustic guitar flourishes, distracting electronic production and vocal effects. While "I Don't Care" was described by Rolling Stone editor Christopher Weingarten as a Chicago soul-influenced song, it opens with strings that drop off in the first verse, where Grande sings among clips and R&B beats: "I used to let some people tell me how to live and what to be/But if I can't be me, the fuck's the point?" NME's Larry Bartlet noted the song is "genuinely satisfying to hear her put that sentiment on record so resoundingly". In "Bad Decisions", Grande sings, "I've been doing stupid things, wilder than I've ever been," with Mikael Wood of Los Angeles Times noting that "a tune whose message initially appears clear: I sinned, I’m sorry, let's move on. She blames the behavior on a boy, then admits she's enjoying it." Musically, "Bad Decisions" is a hip hop number. "Touch It" is an EDM-inspired song, Grande sings the chorus over a "scuzzy bassline", as noted by Lewis Corner of Digital Spy. Maeve McDermott of USA Today described the song as "dramatic and dark" and noted a sound comparable to works of R&B artist The Weeknd. "Knew Better / Forever Boy" consists of two integrated songs, which last for a duration of 4:59. The first part of the song is the R&B "Nobody Like Me", which pairs Grande's distorted vocals with "pounding" synths. The second part is the deep house "Forever Boy". The last track of Dangerous Woman deluxe version is the ballad "Thinking Bout You", the song features a pulsating "thudding kick beat." "Jason's Song (Give It Away)" is a jazz song, it was co-written and produced by musician Jason Robert Brown who composed the track inspiring by Broadway productions, in the song Grande sings among piano notes: "I'm no blow-up doll, no free-for-all, no slave to your decision,"/"Gotta find a way to break the spell, to get the hell away from those who block my vision." According to Elias Light from Rolling Stone the track uses a backdrop of light, cocktail soul for a declaration of independence. It was just included as additional track on Target version and Japanese edition of Dangerous Woman.

Release and promotion

Grande announced the final title of the album on February 22, 2016, via her Snapchat. Two days later, Grande launched a website to promote her album (now merged with her original website), which features a "Tea" section in which the singer shares new information regarding the album, as well as a "Shop" section, in which album-related merchandise is sold. The official album cover was released on March 10 via Grande's social media accounts and on her official website. On March 12, 2016, Grande was both the host and musical guest on NBC's Saturday Night Live, where she performed "Dangerous Woman" and "Be Alright". In April, Grande debuted "Leave Me Lonely" live at the grand opening of the Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena, and performed "Dangerous Woman" at the MTV Movie Awards. On May 13, 2016, Grande announced via her Instagram account that a new song from the album would be premiered exclusively on Apple Music every day until the release of the album. The songs released, in order of release, were "Everyday" featuring Future, "Greedy", "Side to Side", featuring Nicki Minaj, "Sometimes", "Leave Me Lonely", featuring Macy Gray, "Touch It", and "Bad Decisions". Grande promoted the album's release with televised performances at the Billboard Music Awards, and on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Good Morning America. On May 25, she sang "Into You" and duetted with Christina Aguilera on "Dangerous Woman" on The Voice season 10 finale. At the Summertime Ball at London's Wembley Stadium in June, Grande performed "Dangerous Woman, "Into You", and "Greedy" from the album as part of her set. Grande later performed at the MTV Video Music Awards with Minaj to promote the album's third single. She also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on September 8, 2016. On November 20, 2016, at the American Music Awards, Grande performed "Side to Side" alongside Minaj, and won 'Artist of the Year'. In December 2016, Grande was a performer at four of iHeartRadio's Jingle Ball shows.

Tour

Grande first announced plans to tour on the Dangerous Woman website in May 2016. On September 9, 2016, the singer released the dates for the first leg of the Dangerous Woman Tour, with ticket pre-sales beginning on September 20, 2016 and tickets going on general sale on September 24, 2016. The tour started on February 3, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Singles

Grande's song "Focus", was released on October 30, 2015. Although originally intended to be the lead single, it was not included on the standard or deluxe editions of Dangerous Woman. However, it was included as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of the album. "Focus" was certified platinum by the RIAA and had sold 425,000 copies in the US as of May 2016.

Dangerous Woman

The album's lead single and title track, "Dangerous Woman", was teased by Grande on March 1, 2016. A snippet of the song was released as background music to the Victoria's Secret Swim Special on March 9, 2016. The single was released on March 11, 2016, along with the pre-order of the album on the iTunes Store. The track earned 118,000 digital downloads in its opening week and debuted at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Grande's seventh Hot 100 top ten and fifth to debut in the top ten. The single made Grande the first artist in the chart's 57-year history to debut in the top 10 with the lead single from each of her first three albums. The single was later sent to radio on March 15, 2016 and reached a new peak of number 8 in its eleventh week. On June 2016, "Dangerous Woman" was certified platinum by the RIAA. "Dangerous Woman" was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.

Into You

The second single, Into You was released at digital music services on May 6, 2016. It was sent to US mainstream and rhythmic radio stations on June 28, 2016. The song debuted at number 83 and in its thirteenth week on the chart, dated August 27, the song further climbed nine places from 22 to a new peak of number 13 in the US, aided in part by 69-cent sale-pricing in the iTunes Store. Consequently, this became her second top 20 single from Dangerous Woman. On the same week, the song also climbed from number 30 to number 9 on Digital Songs, becoming Grande's ninth top 10 on the chart. It reached a peak of number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Internationally, "Into You" also reached top 20 in several countries, in Europe, the song reached number 20 on Euro Digital Songs it also reached number 14 on the UK Singles Chart making it her sixth UK top 20 single.

Side to Side

"Side to Side" featuring rapper Nicki Minaj, was released on August 30, 2016 as the album's third single. It debuted at number 31 and peaked at number 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on November 21, 2016, becoming her first top-five single from Dangerous Woman in the former and first top-ten single from the album in the latter. In the same week the song climbed from the number 7 to the number 5 on US Digital Songs –prompted by a 10% sales increase sold (51,000 downloads sold) and a 18% to a 97 million in radio audience that week. It became Grande's second single to top the US Mainstream Top 40 airplay chart and Minaj's first. On December 7, 2016, "Side to Side" has sold over 1 million units in the United States being certified as platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Internationally, it has reached the top 40 in several other countries, such as Canada and The Netherlands. It also reached number 4 on UK Singles Chart, It also reached number 4 on the Canadian Hot 100, number 3 on the Australian charts and number 2 in the New Zealand charts and BuIreland. number five in Ireland Its music video, directed by Hannah Lux Davis, made its premiere on American clothing brand Guess's website on August 28, 2016.

Everyday

"Everyday" featuring rapper Future, was released on January 10, 2017 as the album's fourth single. The single was serviced to rhythmic contemporary playlists in the US on January 10, 2017. It was impacted contemporary hit radio in the US on February 14, 2017. The lyric video was unlocked on Vevo on February 1, 2017. Directed by Chris Marrs Piliero, it features Grande dancing and singing in front of a row of spotlights. While the official music video was released on February 27, 2017 on Vevo. "Everyday" debuted at number 85 at the US Billboard Hot 100 on the week issued for March 4, 2017 and climbed to number 78 the followed week. On its third week, "Everyday" rose twenty positions, reaching number 58 on the chart.

Promotional singles

The first promotional single, "Be Alright", was released on March 18, 2016. The song debuted and peaked at number 43 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The second promotional single, "Let Me Love You", featuring Lil Wayne, was released on April 18, 2016 debuting and peaking at number 99 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The third promotional single, "Jason's Song (Gave It Away)" was released on September 16, 2016.

Critical reception

Dangerous Woman received generally positive reviews from music critics. According to Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to ratings and reviews from mainstream critics, critics gave Dangerous Woman a score of 76, based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote for AllMusic that "track by track, Dangerous Woman has sly, subtle distinctions – a little bit of torch gives way to some heavy hip only to have frothy pop surface again", and that "while some of these cuts work better than others, the range is impressive, as is Grande's measured, assured performance." In his review for Entertainment Weekly, Nolan Feeney commented that while Grande's previous album, 'My Everything', "suffered for trying to be everything", on Dangerous Woman, "with a streamlined team of hitmakers such as Max Martin, she pulls off pop, R&B, reggae, and house—all without overextending herself or pandering to trends". The A.V. Club's Annie Zaleski agreed, stating that the album "possesses more personality than 'My Everything'," and writes in conclusion that "'Dangerous Woman' is an effortless leap forward on which Grande comes into her own as a vocalist and performer." Lewis Corner from Digital Spy noted that Grande "ultimately pulled together a consistent collection that impressively manages to keep your attention over 15 tracks." Mikael Wood, writing for the Los Angeles Times, found it "impressive how fully she inhabits the emotional environment of each song" on the album.

Larry Bartleet of NME wrote that apart from the "consistent songwriting clout that elevates this album from recent efforts by Grande's teen-star peers, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez", the "modish message of empowerment feels honest coming from Grande." Michael Cragg from The Observer noted that during her successful previous album she had lost her identity in the process, but in comparison, he noted that the album is a "refinement of her sound", and concluded that "held together by Grande's skyscraping voice, Dangerous Woman throws a lot at the wall and, brilliantly, most of it sticks." Erik Ernst of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel opined that "like much of the disc, it's an unexpected, but remarkable, choice from a confident pop star ready to set her own path to the top." Maeve McDermott of USA Today summarized that Dangerous Woman, "like its title suggests", is "a mature portrait of an artist blessed with one of pop's strongest voices, brimming with potential hits." Quinn Moreland of Pitchfork viewed that "Grande does not need to force any sort of spirit, she is full of it already. She just needs to find the Dangerous Woman within herself and let her break free."

The Plain Dealer's Troy L. Smith wrote that the album "plays it safe and smart", explaining it "functions as 'My Everything 2.0' – a collection of pitch-perfect hooks and slick production built in the mold of Mariah Carey." For Theon Weber of Spin, "Grande is most complete on record when she's playing a diva." Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine wrote that Grande "too often tries to look and sound more mature than she is,"observing that "the songs on the album's latter half are limited by their strict adherence to contemporary pop and R&B trends." In a mixed review, Christopher R. Weingarten of Rolling Stone opined that "as an album artist, she's prone to a schizophrenic sound and unfortunate sequencing," adding that "we're still no closer to figuring out who she wants to be." He also said that "her talents are wasted on meaningful-sounding but ultimately trite lyrics. However, her phrasing remains unique and powerful and pyrotechnic."

Commercial performance

In the United States, Dangerous Woman debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200, behind Views by Drake. It earned 175,000 album-equivalent units, with 129,000 coming from pure album sales. In the second week, the album dropped to number 6, selling 50,000 equivalent units, while in the third week, it slipped to number 7, with 33,000 equivalent units sold. On October 28, 2016, Dangerous Woman was certified Platinum by the RIAA for combined album sales, on-demand audio, video streams and track-sale equivalent of 1 million units. As of January 1, 2017, the album has moved 1,226,000 units in the United States.

In Japan, the album debuted at number 2 on the Oricon Albums Chart, selling 20,811 copies in its opening week, and becoming Grande's highest album ranking in that region. In the second week, the album dropped to number 8, selling 11,950 copies. In the third week, it stayed at number 8, with 7,022 copies sold. As of June 2016, Dangerous Woman has sold 50,000 copies in Japan. In September, it was certified Gold for shipments of 125,000 copies in the country.

In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number one on the Official Albums Chart, becoming Grande's first number one album in the UK. The album also reached the top of the charts in several other markets, including Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain and Taiwan.

Track listing

Notes

Release formats

The Japanese deluxe/limited edition box set includes:

Personnel

Adapted from album liner notes.

Vocal credits

Technical credits (not including songwriting and producer credits shown in the track listing above)