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grande verse

grande verse / eras / yours truly

2013 · republic records · released 2013-09-03

yours trulyariana grande’s 2013 album

the debut that sounded like 1963 and 1997 at once

  • doo-wop
  • Babyface
  • Harmony Samuels
  • Tommy Brown
Ariana Grande during the yours truly era
IMG_6812 Melissa Rose from USA · CC BY 2.0 · credits

every one creative-commons licensed, credited under the frame, and listed on credits.

the story

the striking thing about the debut is how unfashionable it was. 2013 pop was built on sidechained synths and festival drops; she showed up with doo-wop chord changes, finger snaps and a string section. it reads now as a deliberate bet — that a voice this size did not need production to argue on its behalf.

the mariah carey comparisons started here and were not unfair, but they missed what was actually happening. this is a record about restraint: the whistle notes are held back, the runs are placed rather than sprayed. it is a singer establishing that she can do the thing, then declining to do it constantly.

commercially it worked and creatively it boxed her in. the nickelodeon audience arrived with her, and the next three years are largely the story of getting out from under that.

worth knowingthe album's sonic reference points are closer to her mother's record collection than to anything on radio the year it came out.

why it looks like this

warm paper, film grain and a soft rose accent. the era's own artwork leaned vintage and hand-made, so the palette holds to cream and sepia and keeps its edges soft — nothing here is allowed to look digital.

the songs

the whole record, in order — all 13 tracks, with a preview on each. 8 of them have a full write-up here so far; the rest are listed with everything we can state as fact and nothing we cannot.

  1. Honeymoon Avenuewhistle5:40
  2. Baby I3:18
  3. Right There feat. Big Sean4:07
  4. Tattooed Heart3:15
  5. Lovin' Itno write-up yet3:01
  6. Piano3:54
  7. Daydreamin'whistle3:31
  8. The Way feat. Mac Miller#93:47
  9. You’ll Never Knowno write-up yet3:34
  10. Almost Is Never Enough5:28
  11. Popular Songno write-up yet3:20
  12. Better Left Unsaidno write-up yet3:33
  13. The Way [Spanglish Version] feat. Mac Millerno write-up yet3:47

running order and previews from apple. released 2013-08-30.

around the same time

8 more recordings released alongside this era rather than on it — singles, features on other people’s records, deluxe cuts, soundtracks and christmas songs. every one with a preview and a way to go and hear it properly.

further reading

longer pieces on this, written to be checkable — every claim sourced and stamped with the date it was last verified.

everything in read →