Song Review- No Tears Left To Cry by Ariana Grande

Hi, I'm Stellar, and welcome to Stellar in Neverland, where we talk about Ariana Grande too much. Once again I'd like to apologize for posting this about three weeks late (I explained why in that last post), and I'd like to begin with a new apology. I'm sorry if you're sick of me talking about Ariana Grande, but I'm not going to stop anytime soon. Today, we're going to look at her new comeback single "No Tears Left To Cry" since because I've been highly anticipating it for a while now and I had immensely high expectations. But first, some background information.

I've been a huge fan of Ariana since she got her start on Nickelodeon's Victorious. On that show, she played Cat, who was my favorite character (even though I've begun to realize that Cat is pretty annoying as I've gotten older), so I mostly started liking her for that. After Victorious ended, she followed in the footsteps of her contemporaries like Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez and began releasing music. I started really becoming a fan of hers due to her music. She has easily one of the best voices in music today, so much so that she's gotten compared to some of the all-time greats like Mariah Carey. Whether you think those comparisons are accurate is another story, but I think the fact that she's even suggested to be in the same league as legends like that really says a lot about how talented she is. But not only does she have the top-notch pipes, she has the tunes to back her up. For comparison, let's look at one of Ariana's closest competitors (although I'm pretty sure they're actually really good friends), Demi Lovato. When I talked about Demi in my Top 10 Favorite Celebrities post, you'll notice that I didn't really talk about her music that much and mostly talked about her personality and vocal talent. That's because, with the exception of a few songs like "Cool For The Summer" and "Heart Attack", I don't actually think her music is anything special. She's obviously got an amazing voice, but she doesn't have the right material to put it to use. That's what distinguishes Ariana from her equally vocally talented peers for me. Good singing can only get you so far, you need to have amazing songs as well. And Ariana is one of the most consistently great pop artists of this generation. I can count on one hand the number of songs I don't like from her, and when she's at her best, she is responsible for some of my all-time favorite songs. "Into You" is quite possibly the most euphoric and perfect pop song I've ever heard, "Greedy" is a funky little throwback-inspired pop song that should've been a world-conquering smash hit single (emphasis on "single" because it wasn't one), and "Be My Baby" is an EDM-inspired midtempo track with big synths and even bigger vocals.

I bring up those three songs in particular, because I've stated in numerous places that I love all three of those songs an insane amount and I think it's these three songs that kind of ruined "No Tears Left To Cry" for me at first. I can't emphasize this enough: my expectations for "No Tears Left To Cry" were ungodly high to the point where it almost hurt the song. I was expecting the Pop Song of the Century, something even better than "Into You", which is no easy feat. Anything less than that would be viewed as a disappointment in my mind. And upon first listen, "No Tears Left To Cry" was not as good as I expected. However, I figured it would grow on me over time and it only took a few listens to do so.

For those who are living under a rock: On May 22, 2017, a bomb was set off after Ariana's Dangerous Woman Tour show at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. 23 innocent concert-goers lost their lives (with the youngest casualty being merely eight years old) and over 500 were injured in the terrorist attack. Ariana was stuck in the middle of a huge tragedy like this, and she felt a huge amount of guilt after the events. She did everything she could to try to make things better, paying for the funerals of those who died, visiting the injured in the hospital, and most remarkably, organizing the immensely successful One Love Manchester benefit concert in a very short amount of time. With the tragedy being such a big story and one that affects Ariana directly, it was pretty much expected that the next song she'd release would address the incident in some way. And similar to "Praying" by Kesha from last year, Ari's outlook on her tragedy is quite possibly the best and most mature one she could have.

A few days before the single came out, she held a listening party for fans in London. The Blast reported that people who were at the listening party were so moved by the song's lyrics that they cried hysterically. With lyrics like "I'm pickin' it up, pickin' it up, lovin', I'm livin', so we turnin' up" and "We're way too fly to partake in all this hate, we out here vibin', we vibin', we vibin'", I can say that they were really stretching with that. However, what "No Tears Left To Cry" as a whole represents for Ariana is something I have nothing but respect for. This is a song about a woman who has overcome some truly horrible events, but she's done being sad and overcome the pain. She is an empowered woman, one that came out of a tragedy very few people could imagine and is stronger than ever. The song in a word? Uplifting.

The underlying message of the song is very powerful, but I'm typically a person who cares more about vocals, production, and melodies than one who cares about messages and lyrics. How is the song in those aspects? Well, this song doesn't compare to Ariana's previous best songs, but it still is really good. Ariana teased a snippet of the song the Wednesday before it came out, and my mind was pretty much blown from that. From that, I expected the song to be a gospel-esque number akin to "Pendulum" by Katy Perry (one of the few good songs from that album). That snippet was of the intro, which starts out slow with Ariana providing soulful vocals. After that, it speeds up and transitions into an R&B inspired bop, for lack of a better term. She starts sing-rapping, and the rapid switch-up really caught me off-guard. I wasn't huge on the sing-rapping at first, but it grew on me because it's just so catchy! In fact, this entire song has been looping in my head ever since I first heard it. Ariana and her producers know how to write a catchy pop song, and the hooks on this one are undeniable.

With this song, Ariana worked with the legendary producer Max Martin, who has produced iconic singles like "Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears, "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys, "Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson, and "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry. He's also responsible for some of Ariana's biggest hits like "Problem", "Side To Side", and "Into You". Because of the latter song especially, I was glad to see Ariana work with him again. The production on this song is excellent. Its sound is distinctive yet it doesn't sound out of place with other current pop songs. It has sort of a 90's-house meets R&B meets pop vibe, with hints of the gospel elements in the backing vocals. It matches the optimism and joy of the lyrics perfectly and fits the vibe they tried to go for perfectly.

Of course, the one last big element we have to talk about, since it's what Ariana's known for, is the vocals. I'm not sure if I'd say this is her absolute best vocal performance ever, and although it's grown on me, I still don't think the sing-rapping is the best choice for Ariana's tone. But still, it's Ariana Grande. She's incapable of having a truly terrible vocal performance. She sounds confident and jovial and she really shows the emotions needed for the song. The backing vocals and harmonies are great as always, and the parts where she gets to really belt at the end is glorious. Ariana's voice is a national treasure, and just listening to her voice can put a smile on my face no matter what she's singing.

Overall, I would give "No Tears Left To Cry" a 9/10. It's not one of my absolute favorite Ariana Grande songs, but it's the kind of song I need at this point in my life, and it's the single she needed to come back with. I know it will grow on me even more in the future, maybe even to the point where I like it as much as "Into You" or "Be My Baby". How does it compare to her other lead singles? Well, I would still say I prefer "The Way" from her debut Yours Truly, but I like "No Tears Left To Cry" more than both "Problem" from My Everything and "Dangerous Woman" from the album of the same name. If this is the direction Ariana's going in for AG4, then it will probably be her best album to date. I'm not going to review any of the other songs leading up to the release of the album, but I will totally be reviewing the album itself when it comes out. I'm sorry if this post was kind of over the place and overly passionate, but I couldn't contain my excitement. I have no idea what my next post will be, or when The Stellar Adventures of Catalina in Neverland #3 will come out, but I should be back next Wednesday. I'm Stellar in Neverland, and I'll see you then. Peace!

Stellar

I’m Sorry

The title says it all, but I’m gonna put a bitmoji here as well to really show how sorry I am. Except for the fact that I’m on my phone and can’t add a picture because it’s too complicated. So no bitmoji to really go the extra mile, but I am sorry I haven’t posted for the past two weeks. I was stuck at home all last week with nausea and vomiting (name a more iconic duo, I’ll wait). I’ve been fine since Sunday, but I’ve been using the past couple of days to make up schoolwork. I should be back and posting next week, but it won’t be the third installment of The Stellar Adventures of Catalina in Neverland I’ve been promising for a while now. Next week, I’m going to try individual song reviewing (as opposed to reviewing a whole album) with a review of “No Tears Left To Cry”, Ariana Grande’s comeback single which is set to be released this coming Friday. If you know me, this shouldn’t surprise you at all. I’ve been insanely hyped for Ariana to make her comeback and it’s literally all I’ve thought about since she announced the rumors of her comeback were true a few days ago. When the album inevitably comes out, I am absolutely reviewing it, but my excitement levels for this new single are so high I can’t wait to talk about the single for that long. I’m Stellar in Neverland and I’ll see you then. Peace!

Stellar

Roasting My Sixth Grade Poetry Collection

Hi, I’m Stellar, and welcome to Stellar in Neverland, where I suck at keeping promises! Last week I promised I would either write “another Stellar Adventures of Catalina in Neverland or another new series I just came up with”, and surprise! This post is neither of those! This isn’t the first time I’ve done something like this, which leads me to think that honestly I should stop revealing what my next post will be at the end of every post. Half the time it ends up being something completely different. So what am I doing for this week? Roasting my middle school poetry collection! I’m not a huge fan of poetry, honestly. It bores me and a lot of the time I find it pretentious. However, in my sixth grade English class, I was assigned to write a collection of poems. I have most of my assignments from middle school onward saved in my Google Drive, so I look at them late at night from time to time. A few nights ago I decided to read my poetry collection and I realized just how horrible the poems were. For this post, I’m going to be looking at each poem, doing commentary, and laughing at how crap of a writer I used to be. The poems are in a different font and color than the rest of the post, so that’s how you can tell what is the poem and what is my commentary.

Irrelevant Catalina picture, sorry. I just didn't have time to make a fancy one!

(Side note: A few of the poems contain personal details like my name, hometown, etc. I will be changing these for this post.)

Snowing

OK, so I don’t remember what the name for this style of poem is, but it’s where you start by writing a sentence and keep repeating that sentence but adding more detail to it. Honestly, I think this style is stupid. It’s important to have detail in your writing, but if you add too much, it just ends up sounding too try-hard and pretentious. This type of poem is guaranteed to piss me off.

It is snowing outside.

Snow is falling from the sky.

White powder is falling down on the ground.

I find it funny how writing “white powder” is supposed to be “more detailed” but if anything, it’s less descriptive. When you say “snow”, it’s clear what you’re talking about. “White powder” could be anything. Baking powder, powdered sugar, cocaine. From the looks of it, Sixth-Grade Stellar wrote a poem all about cocaine. Yippee.

White powder is dropping on the ground, making the ground look white.

That is a really clunkily written line.

The white, frosty fluff makes the ground look ivory.

White and ivory are two different colors. White is completely white, ivory has a hint of tan to it (I think?). If something is white, its presence does not make the ground look ivory. It makes the ground look white.

The white, frosty, cold fluff is pounding on the sidewalk, making it look ivory.

The milk-white, frosty, frigid fluff is pounding the sidewalk, which is an ivory mountain.

This poem is annoyingly repetitive.

The milk-white, frosty, frigid fluff is pounding the sidewalk, which is an ivory Everest.

Children are coming out of their homes to play in the snow-white Mount Everest.

OH MY GOD WHERE DO CHILDREN COME INTO THIS. So yeah, this is a sloppily written poem, but it’s not the worst one in here, believe it or not! There’s a lot worse yet to come.

Sneaky Poem

What is a sneaky poem, you might ask? It’s actually pretty similar to the last type of poem. It’s where you provide stupid details and be “sneaky” so the reader has to guess what you’re talking about. Kill me.

Mountain of frosting,

Sponge-y and irresistible,

The word “spongey” is kinda gross. Also not a word.

Chomping and devouring its deliciousness

Likewise with “chomping”.

Making people’s days a little bit sweeter

Cupcakes

This one is pretty short and mindless, plus it has some dumb word choices, but it’s still probably the best-written poem here, if I’m being honest. At least it’s upfront in its stupidity instead of being fake-deep.

LIGHTNING

This one’s a haiku. Which is cool. Haikus are dope. It’s not a particularly good one, but hey! It’s something interesting!

Vivid lightning strikes

Electrifying the sky

Boom! Boom! Crash! Crack! Pow!

I don’t have much to say for this one other than what I said before. It’s a 6/10 haiku. Although it does feel like cheating to just put onomatopoeia for the final line instead of actual words.

I Come From…

Pretty sure this type of poem is called a quatrain. We were required to write one quatrain, and our teacher gave us a prompt for writing one called “I Come From”. This is where you basically reminisce about your childhood.

I come from (Neverland) and playing with dolls,

I’m not actually from Neverland, obviously. The original version of the poem had my actual hometown, but I changed it for safety purposes, even though I’m pretty sure there are multiple towns and cities that share its name.

I come making Build-A-Bears at the mall.

I’m pretty sure I only went to Build-A-Bear once or twice as a kid. This poem is a lie.

I come from hanging out with my imaginary friends.

I come from days at Grandma’s I didn’t want to end.

I come from watching Barney, Dora, and Blue’s Clues.

Barney is horrifying but it gave us Demi Lovato so I guess it gets a pass. Dora the Explorer is quite possibly the most annoying show on the planet, but I credit it with giving me a headstart in Spanish. Spanish is the only class where I actually feel like I know what I’m doing, and I partially credit Dora for that. And of course Blue’s Clues is dope. Geez, when did “dope” become such a big part of my vocabulary?

I come from watching Disney films, the type I’d always choose.

I come from Rainbow Magic, the first series I loved to read.

Does anybody remember Rainbow Magic or am I the only one? Those books pretty much all had the same plots but I was obsessed with them. They pretty much kickstarted my love of reading, which is something I’m always going to be grateful for.

Some book covers, so you know what I'm talking about, hahaha. Ironically, I don't think I've read any of these books. Guessing they came out after my time?

                                            

If you want a good adulthood, a good childhood is what you need.

Ok, that’s not true. Many people who live great adult lives had horrible childhoods. For example, I read somewhere that Rihanna grew up with a crack-addict father and would get really severe headaches from the fighting between her parents. Now she’s one of the most famous women on the planet and is living the life most of us dream of. See Sixth-Grade Stellar, your statement is wrong. And besides, you’re like ten. How do you know what a great adulthood is?

I’m The Girl…

Here we go. This is the big one, the one I have by far the most to say about. This is my free verse poem and when I wrote it, I thought it was so beautiful, emotional, and meaningful. Hell, it even made my teacher cry! Rereading it now, I realize that it is one of, if not the, most cringeworthy and pretentious things I have ever written. Let’s just get this garbage over with.

I’m the girl who loves Disney movies like no other kid my age,

the girl with the severe addiction to all things Harry Potter,

the girl who spends more time on YouTube than she should.

Look at me! I’m SO unique because I like Disney movies, Harry Potter, and YouTube! I am the ONLY one who has these interests! I’m so quirky and original! Gag me.

I’m the girl with a perfect alternate reality planned out in my brain,

the girl who doesn’t want to grow up,

the girl who will defend the things she loves and believes in at any risk.

I am me.

Sixth-Grade Stellar, growing up is good. Yeah, real responsibilities suck, but as you get older, you have more opportunities to do awesome things. I’ve matured so much from back then, but it’s for the better.

If you’re looking for the girl who is a star athlete,

the girl who lives for being outdoors,

Indirectly shading people in your class who aren’t even that bad! Good job, Stellar!

the girl who looks incomparable all the time,

the girl who’s had around forty boyfriends in three years,

Slut-shaming? This is DESPICABLE, Sixth-Grade Stellar. I’m a feminist, and I believe that there are a lot worse things a woman can do than have “forty boyfriends in three years”. The only way I can see this being a problem is if somebody in the relationship is abusive, be it physically, sexually, emotionally, whatever. I am completely willing to talk about the double standards our society has where a man who has numerous girlfriends is a “superstud playa”, while a woman who is sexually active is a “slut” and a “bad role model”. I feel these double standards are completely abhorrent, and the fact that I would endorse them at any point in time is disgusting.

the stereotypical flawless popular girl,

keep looking,

because I’m not the girl for you.

Actually no, stop looking. The “stereotypical flawless popular girl” does not exist in real life. She exists in crappy teen dramas and nowhere else. I can guarantee that girls who appear to be like this are not that glamourous. Oftentimes, they struggle to deal with the high expectations of perfection put on them by society, and these high standards can lead to mental disorders like anxiety or depression. What you see on the outside isn’t always true, and don’t believe everything you see in the media.

But I am me.

And that’s what matters most.

This best sums up my big problem with the poem: how above-it-all the whole thing seems to be. Yeah, the whole message is “I’m not perfect, but I’m me” but there’s an underlying tone of “I’m so much better than the perfect popular girl! I’m REAL and AUTHENTIC and she’s fake!” It’s extremely elitist, like the people who claim stuff like “Real music uses instruments and has meaning and actually takes talent, unlike that Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj crap! I only listen to REAL music like The Beatles and Queen!” (Side note: I don't have anything against either of those bands, they're just always the two I see in "New Music Isn't As Good As Old Music" memes.) We’ve all seen people like that, who act like their opinions make them a superior person when it really doesn’t. Like whatever you want, but don’t be a jerk about it. My poem has the same pompous air as people who make statements like that, and it’s not how I feel now. I don’t think I’m better than anyone, and this post solely exists to prove to myself that I’m not above-it-all.

OK, so ignoring the fact that it’s complete garbage, let’s remember that “I’m The Girl” is supposed to be the big emotional statement of this whole thing. It’s supposed to be all deep and meaningful and very serious. So how do I follow up this big, serious statement up? A limerick, which is literally defined as “a humorous, often bawdy poem…” Talk about mood whiplash.

Don’t Be A Bob!

There once was a young man named Bob.

He wanted to get a good job.

So he chopped down a tree.

It killed a wee bee.

His boss said, “Your brain is a blob.”

I don't have anything to say, this is just pathetic. I’m pretty sure I wrote this in fifth grade but I thought it was so hilarious I just had to put it in my sixth-grade collection. Why?

The last poem doesn’t have a title. This one is just me describing myself, not much else to it. I wrote an original version of it in fourth grade, but I completely rewrote it for the poetry book. It begins and ends with my real name, so I’m changing it those, obviously.

(Stellar)

Caring, intelligent, bubbly

I’m not “bubbly”. I’ve always been pretty shy and kept to myself. I’m definitely not bubbly (which is defined as “(of a person) full of cheerful high spirits” now. I’m an overly emotional ball of angst and negativity. It might not seem like that just from my writing, but anyone who knows me well can tell you that I am.

Wishes to make Honor Roll in high school

I’m in high school now, and I think I’m on honor roll? My school doesn’t outright tell you things like that. Or anything, for that matter.

Wants to get more involved in acting and singing

lol i can’t sing

Who needs her friends and family

Yeah, and I also need attention from those friends and family. I’m an attention whore, plain and simple.

Who wants a larger house

Who fears death

Who dreams of being an actress or singer

Isn’t this like, the exact same thing I said before?

Who believes in God and Jesus

I’d prefer to not get into topics of religion on my blog, but I’m just going to leave this here:

Never change, Bieber.

Who loves her family and friends

Once again, isn’t this the exact same thing I said before?

Who loves books and the Internet

Who plans on going to Florida someday

I haven’t done this yet. Will I go to Florida at some point? Hopefully. I’d just love to travel more, period.

(in Neverland)

Well, that’s the end of my horrible poetry collection. I actually had quite a bit of fun writing this, and I feel like it lets you get to know me better than any other post on here. Next week will be more Stellar Adventures...I think. It’s probably gonna change. That’s all for this week. Tune in next Wednesday for more. I’m Stellar in Neverland signing out. Peace!

Stellar