petal

More than once did this record make me think about Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department.” .... Complaints about celebrity can be pretty tedious, of course; sometimes it feels as though famous pop singers have forgotten how to write about anything other than life in the social-media fishbowl. Yet “Petal” gets some creative traction from how Grande chooses to use her voice; instead of belting, she rarely rises above a whisper, which gives a spooky, slightly creepy quality to her thoughts on being endlessly scrutinized.

As much as I want to buy into the f..k-it rage and ferocity Grande aims to channel here, petal pulls too many punches for that impulse to resonate.

On the whole, rather than a dramatic departure, petal feels fairly constrained and, occasionally, like a tame reimagining of her older work. .... The strongest moments come when Grande ventures into less familiar territory.

Both Eternal Sunshine and the expanded Brighter Days Ahead were ornate and meticulously crafted, but the kick of Petal is that it’s much more loose and spontaneous. She’s shooting from the hip, both musically and emotionally. .... And that attitude brings out Ariana Grande at her best.

While her new album, Petal, is a moody, bittersweet exploration of her relationship to the limelight that shows flashes of incisiveness, it ultimately can’t overcome its self-imposed limitations.

It drops all of the fluff and needless fanfare, instead focusing on crafting something emotionally intelligent, beautifully arranged, and centered around Ariana’s timeless vocals.

Petal is an album of quiet, controlled, vetted anger; there’s no rush of blood to the head. Maybe it’s because Grande is rehashing familiar topics – it’s far from the first time she’s dissected fame, romance or self-worth in her music – that she sounds numb to it, tired of treading the same ground.

It’s a chapter, a strange one that demonstrates, sometimes, how magnificent Grande can be. Making it all the more disappointing when she isn’t.

["Eternal Sunshine"] was a work of sharp craftsmanship and tonal variety, but “Petal” feels murky and monochrome in comparison. As usual, Grande’s vocals are lovely and impressively arranged; she can still sing circles, squares and curlicues around most A-list pop stars. But the material here is mostly a morass of sluggish tempos that lacks the charisma and conviction of her best work.