So there’ve been a few developments since the last time around…
[5.17]
Total writers: 23
Highest score: [7]
Lowest score: [3]
Controversy index: 1.39
[5.17]
Total writers: 23Highest score: [7]
Lowest score: [3]
Controversy index: 1.39
Leah Isobel: Okay, yeah, "Vogue" interpolation, whatever. "Yes, And?" actually reminds me of teenpop-era Robyn: check the verse chord progression that feels both weightless and constantly inverting, like riding a conveyor belt on the ceiling of an airport terminal. But where Robyn's fur-lined voice warmed up Max Martin's antiseptic interiors, Ariana's silvery perfection only enhances the song's posthuman qualities. That's not to say she doesn't convey emotion, but that the way she does it is so glossy and CGI-smooth that the emotion she conveys seems elevated above actual humanity. (This is why you can plop her voice into a video game, and it makes perfect sense.) She's like a pop fairy godmother or possibly a good witch, entering from another plane of reality to whisper and belt and inspire. I'm sure this is an unbelievably exhausting position to be in -- the very cool and vaguely discomfiting vocal processing on the prickly bridge indicates as such. But "Yes, And?" still seems beholden to that image, its pneumatic airlessness overwhelming. I like it, but I don't know if Ariana does.
[6]
Maddie Lee: It seems inevitable that there was a Madonna follow-up to Beyoncé's Malcolm McLaren. The two-chord progression of "Yes, And?" can be traced back to the "Love Groove" section of MFSB's "Love is the Message," a song that embodied the plush, feminine drama of the pre-Masters at Work ballroom era (as echoed in "Deep in Vogue"). When "Yes, And?" invokes it, it's merely ready-to-wear glamour, much like the image of putting one's lipstick on. I find "Vogue" more fun to listen to than "Deep in Vogue", and I can't deny the instant pleasure of "Yes, And?" If only "And what about it?" scanned better lyrically.
[6]
Jackie Powell: Ariana Grande catapulted herself into the upper echelon of the pop world by putting out music that addressed and reflected upon her personal plight. This worked beautifully with “Thank U, Next,” where she altered the way artists can reflect upon their relationships without being spiteful and petty. And don’t forget about the music video, where Grande brought Mean Girls back into the cultural zeitgeist years before Reneé Rapp did. Grande attempts to get the same result with “yes, and?” over five years later, but does it work? Not in the same way. There’s a new personal life situation she’s singing about, but this time it's unethical, and there’s no debating that. She sure does try, though, in her own version of Lady Gaga’s “Do What U Want" -- remember, that song where Gaga spoke about the gossip writers and the paparazzi whose criticism felt suffocating? (And yes there was an embarrassing feature on there, but that’s not the point.) What I found insensitive about “yes, and?” was the group of people that Grande vilified in the music video. The intro features people who she deems to be “the critics”: people who are critical of what Grande’s music is like in addition to the person she is. Although Grande’s privacy and personal life are being violated by the gossip media, she conflates music criticism and those who write about music not just for clicks with those who do. Her timing to jab music criticism when it’s in freefall is indicative of how artists have forgotten or don’t care about its purpose: not simply aiming to be critical, but rather to make sense of the next step in Grande's discography. Sonically, "Yes, And?" might be an even catchier single than “Thank U, Next”: Max Martin and ILYA constructed an interpolation of Madonna’s “Vogue” that sounds and feels fresh, rather than completely ripping off the source material. (Yes, I’m looking at you “7 Rings.”) But the whole point of "Vogue" was to encourage self-expression and empowerment. Grande tries to do that with phrases like “be your own fuckin’ best friend,” but the song doesn’t get there because of the people she ices out. It’s ironic, because the first verse of “Yes, And?” is all about how everyone is “healin’ from somebody or somethin’ we don’t see.”
[6]