Ariana Grande - petal

Lots of fucks there...it does make me angry it seems :D
 
Should we not call out the problematic and damaging content she’s being allowed to release because of the tiniest possibility this isn’t what everyone thinks it is?
 
I'm also with Jameela to a degree but we can't shame somebody suffering this disease into getting better. it just doesn't work.
With whom does the responsibility of pushing those images in the video lie then?
 
Should we not call out the problematic and damaging content she’s being allowed to release because of the tiniest possibility this isn’t what everyone thinks it is?
Absolutely!

I think the choice of clothing in the video was an irresponsible one. Even if the underlying problem is not what everyone assumes...can they not see how it might have a damaging impact on younger more impressionable audiences?
 
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I like Ariana but the woman has a third of a billion followers on social media. Her demographic skews young and female.

Shots of her on tour are not necessarily the problem...but making stylistic choices in a music video to emphasise and show off her thin frame is, is harmful. Everyone involved should be ashamed.
 
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I presume she has some degree of autonomy. She is no doubt fully aware of how her body looks and feels. Shaming her on the Internet really isn't helpful. By critiquing the content, you're not just criticising her team.

Thousands of online commentators won't push her into getting whatever help she may or may not need. That comes from her and her closest circle. Public pressure freed Britney and God knows what that achieved.
 
I don't agree with shaming her BUT she must be held to account..as should everyone involved.
 
a weird angle
Why is it weird? The statement from her team implies they are pushing back on criticism. If you are suggesting having a mental illness (if she does indeed even have that) means that she should not have her choices challenged, doesn't that mean we are prioritising the welfare of one celebrity over the damaging impact that person is having on countess young and impressionable people by normalising this body image? Yes we should be more delicate in our handling but at the same time it should be called out.
 
This whole discourse makes me deeply uncomfortable.
You and me both.

At the heart of celebrity - both the pursuit of it and the pursuit of those that achieve it by those that just want to rub up against it in some or other way, is something deeply deeply toxic and troubling. But it's also incredibly human. The idea of being famous, to me, is basically horrifying - I would not function well with it in the least. I might say that it's something that tends to attach itself to the glamour professions - you don't get nurses and teachers living in the spotlight like this, but plenty of people manage to have creative jobs, and even have a high level of profile without really being bothered to the point where there every action is picked apart. But for some reason, there is always a small number of people who are picked apart in this way, and for them, it has to be staggeringly awful I would think.
 
I cannot get my head round the idea of her being criticised for daring to appear in media in her own skin, however uncomfortable that may make you feel. The idea that Ariana is going to cause a generation of youngsters to develop an eating disorder is insane.

We live in a world where inappropriate content is fully accessible for youngsters, and this targeting of her as someone to blame for something that existed before her and can be found in thousands of other places, is misguided.
 
Whether we like it or not though, she has a great deal of influence and her reach is enormous.

I hadn't commented on rumours of a supposed eating order until today (it's really none of my business) but the video for Petal almost makes a point to address the online talk in a way that I think is not necessary or helpful.
 
When you think of someone like Erika de Casier, who lives in that world. Everything she does is leagues better than Ariana’s attempts.
Omg, I'd never heard of her before, but I've sampled a handful of tracks, and I can definitely hear the similarities. It's very much in the same lane as what Ariana has been doing, and even Madison Beer across her last couple of albums. But good Lord... her cover art is truly dire, to put it mildly. :D
 
All I can do is send good vibes her way and hope for the best.

I really wonder what happened on that set though because all 3 main women became shockingly thin.
 
Omg, I'd never heard of her before, but I've sampled a handful of tracks, and I can definitely hear the similarities. It's very much in the same lane as what Ariana has been doing, and even Madison Beer across her last couple of albums. But good Lord... her cover art is truly dire, to put it mildly. :D

Her last album is low key one of the best albums of the decade so far. It's very midtempo and samey but also a total vibe from start to finish - when the production is that good and on point then I don't mind that sound at all.
 
...which is what happens when you become the story instead of your album. The online chat should be about the record but it isn't. God, I feel sorry for her.
 
Pretty steep drops the last couple of days


...which is what happens when you become the story instead of your album. The online chat should be about the record but it isn't. God, I feel sorry for her.
... a daily decline of 21% from day 2 to 3 is quite normal for a big new album. good holds, even. i strongly doubt that the discourse is affecting her streams.
 
This thread has some really triggering and insensitive content in it. Just leave the woman alone. She said she's going away anyway.
 
Poor love must be absolutely exhausted. Just reviewing the last 5 or so years of her career, her schedule is a bit insane. I wonder if there was some outside pressure from management and contracts to do this gruelling tour.

Apparently she said on stage last night that she consciously made this decision a long time ago. The only part of that which doesn’t make sense is that the Sunday In The Park With George producers were insisting she was still part of it as recently as a month ago.
 
It’s very hard to give her the benefit of the doubt when she has posts like this on her Instagram.

 
here's what she said during the show last night - quite a bit more reassuring and less defensive than whatever that PR statement was.

"So basically, the announcement that was made yesterday was not a reactive or impulsive thing. It is something that I had decided - a plan I had quietly made a while ago, and it’s a decision that was made from a thoughtful and empowered place. And I want you to know that many things can be true at the same time… I heard that my fans were worried that ‘negativity’ was ‘ruining things for me’ but I just have to say, that could not be more the fuck opposite. This is not what that is. Multiple things can be true at the same time: boundaries can need to be set; human beings can need a break sometimes; and also this can be, and will continue to be, the greatest experience of my professional career and life. So I just wanted to make that quite clear.

“And I have one more thing to say: no matter what noises exist out there, nothing will ever be able to distort my reality or be more real to me or louder to me than this love that we share. Or how it feels to make art with the people that I love and respect. Absolutely nothing will change that. I love you. This (gesturing to crowd) is what I will always take with me…the rest of that shit is not mine to carry so I won’t carry it. I needed to get out here and differentiate that from my truth for you all because I love you and this tour has been the most beautiful, corrective, magnificent, special experience - and so has putting out ‘petal’, it’s been extraordinary. Okay. [slightly inaudible??] That felt good. Thank you. I wish that words were enough to articulate just how much I love you all and how much you mean to me.”

 
... a daily decline of 21% from day 2 to 3 is quite normal for a big new album. good holds, even. i strongly doubt that the discourse is affecting her streams.
I only have the US numbers for ES but it is falling more than 2x quicker than that

Day 1
Eternal Sunshine: 20,814,911
Petal: 21,762,425

Day 2
Eternal Sunshine: 17,085,442 (-17.9%)
Petal: 13,112,775 (-39.7%)

Day 3
Eternal Sunshine: 14,928,064 (-12.6%)
Petal: 9,502,149 (-27.5%)

yes objectively nothing alarming per se but doesn’t bode well for its longevity. The drop is always a bit softer the fourth day so it should stabilize a bit but it doesn’t seem to have a we can’t be friends on it.
 
Way ahead in the UK midweeks:

01 Ariana Grande - petal (28,788)
02 Davido - Oriadé (6,485)
03 Michael Jackson - The Essential (4,543)
04 Olivia Rodrigo - you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love (4,206)
05 Olivia Dean - The Art of Loving (3,013)
 
Let's discuss happier things like this AI generated "leak" of the title track.

 
I really like Bad Thing (Bunny Hop). I'm struggling to break into the rest of the album, with the exception of Hate That I Made You Love Me.
 
I prefer this version of petal, but yea it doesn’t do much for me in general

 
Really great 2-hour concert. Focus remained very much on Eternal Sunshine - HTIMYLM, Petal, Bad Thing, Kiss Me off of Petal. Kiss Me and Bad Thing worked well live - and segments like One More Time into Rain On Me into Break Free are just the ticket.

Also, she sounded tremendous vocally.
 
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Really need a live album of the tour. The full chest belt at the end of Supernatural as she

ascends to the ceiling
add so much to the song.

Same goes for Bad Thing and Kiss Me - they sounded so much better without some of the ultra processery on record.
 

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