I Watched Part 1 of Ariana Grande's 'Zach Sang Show' Interview So You Don't Have To

Ariana Grande recently sat down with close friend and frequent interviewer Zach Sang for her first major interview about eternal sunshine, her forthcoming seventh studio album. Part one premiered today, and I watched (and summarized) it so you don't have to.

• On returning to music:"I actually was really opposed to coming out with music until after Wicked, either both parts or just the one part, I wasn't sure... but as soon as the strike began, I came to New York and just for fun, just to see how it would feel, Max Martin came to spend a week with me at Jungle City Studios and it all just kind of started pouring out."

• On eternal sunshine:"It's incredibly human. But it's also touching on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), so it's kind of a concept album, which I haven't done before. That's kind of why I don't want to put out a second single before the album [releases], because I'd like for it to be heard in one piece."

• On writing the album:"It says everything and nothing at the same time. I definitely did several passes at all of the songs, just to kind of be protective, because I wrote them when I was very emotional. Even some of the bops I cried writing. [laughs] But the thing that was beautiful about it was that, when I was writing, it was with no intention for the world to hear it. And then when I was done I remembered that people will hear it, and how sometimes people will sensationalize things and assign meaning to certain things. And I wanted to make sure that I combed through just to make sure that it was what I intended.

"Even at my most heartbroken or most pained moments of the past few years, there was so much kindness. There was so much love, there was so much honesty and transparency and respect. So even at the hardest moments of loss and the grief that you hear on some of the album, I tried to make sure that it was kind and giving credit for trying and for the goodness that there was."

• On leaked music:"Those [songs] were all written for a TV show. So 'Fantasize' comes out—'comes out,' crazy, was stolen—[and] it was like a parody of a '90s girl group. But [the fans] loved it, and I was like, a) all of you are absolute hypocrites, and b) that's crazy! It's so corny! But I took the note and I kind of gave them Ariana's version of that on the album."

• On hearing herself as AI:"What are we doing? Why? I hate it, it's terrifying."



Part two of the interview will premiere exclusively on Amazon Music on March 8 with a track-by-track discussion of eternal sunshine.

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