By Julia Obyrtal, Velocity Contributor
Ariana Grande is a homewrecker. At least, that’s what she led the public to believe to save herself the heartache.
Grande’s album eternal sunshine deluxe: brighter days ahead is a concept album inspired by the 2004 movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which explores themes of love, loss, memory, self-love and recovery. She combines the storyline of the movie with her personal life experiences in every song.
The album’s closing song, “Hampstead,” focuses on recovery as well as her relationship with the public and the media.
“Hampstead” is quiet and bittersweet but powerful. It is a piano ballad straying away from her familiar pop hits like “Break Free,” “Into You,” and “thank u, next.” Her heartfelt lyrics complement the perfect piano and unmatched vocals to make this song unforgettably touching.
The song begins with a melancholic piano chord paired with a record playback sound. It has the ambience of a busy environment where voices are heard conversing with one another. The first lyrics we hear after the beginning sounds are, “I left my heart in a pub in Hampstead, and I misplaced my mind in a good way.”
Hampstead is where Ariana Grande lived while filming for Wicked, which also marked the start of a new era for her. The voices and background noise resemble the pub she metaphorically left herself in so she could move onto brighter days.
Fans interpreted the record scratches as Grande playing back memories of her past self. To misplace her mind in a good way, she was escaping that trapped feeling of being caught up in her head and focusing on bettering herself.
Grande’s relationship with the press is complicated. She sings “You think you’ve read the book I’m still writing / I can’t imagine wanting badly to be right / Guess I’m forever on your mind.” Grande reminds listeners that she is constantly growing and changing while the media and public lack knowledge of her personal life. The media and critics make assumptions and write headlines that are misleading and often untrue, such as calling Grande a homewrecker based on a recent relationship with her Wicked co-star, Ethan Seater.
In the chorus, she sings “Fear me, stranger / A little bit of sugar, danger” in a stronger voice. In contrast, the rest of the song is sung in a soft but confrontational tone, speaking directly to her audience. She sings this defensively, sending the message that people shouldn’t be assuming things about her. Rather, they should expect the unexpected; she emphasizes the duality of her life with the sweeter side and the riskier side. This lyric also has a double meaning for her older fans, referencing her third and fourth studio albums, Sweetener (sugar) and Dangerous Woman (danger).
Up until the first chorus is over, there are no vocal harmonies. The harmonies slowly build up after that and lead up to the assertiveness of the repeated chorus. Grande sings “What’s wrong with a little bit of poison? Tell me / I would rather feel everything than nothing every time.”
After losing control of the media’s representation of her, the buildup in strength represents the moment where Ariana Grande finally lets go of the opinions and rumors to gain back the control in her life. Rather than apologizing for her relationships, she would rather feel everything deeply and unapologetically than pretending others’ opinions of her life don’t matter.
With the final lyric “Rather be swimming with you than drowning in a crowded room”, the piano slows down and fades out, leaving her to sing this line a cappella. Her tone shifts from the beginning of her journey toward self-knowledge, from having enough of the toxicity of her publicized life to accepting the fact that the false rumors will continue to spread.
But through regaining her ability to control her life, she drowns out the negative and chooses to keep her family and friends close and swim through the hardships with their support. Along with the lyric, the song has a more autotuned sound, but once she sings the word “drowning,” Grande’s raw vocals are presented, encapsulating her vulnerability and authenticity.
“Hampstead” evokes empathy in the listener. It’s the type of song you’d blast in the car, but not in an “Unwritten”-by-Natasha-Bedingfield way. More in the way of a late-night drive to self-reflect and feel grateful that music exists to be able to express and feel all emotions deeply.
Velocity 
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