The Singles Jukebox

If you say so!

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[3.88]Katherine St Asaph: With “Earned It” being an Oscar-crashing hit and the trip-hop revival swallowed undigested from alternative to pop, expect a lot more of these 6/8 come-ons. The guitar solo evokes unspeakably cheesy work. You can tell the songwriters are stepping carefully around evoking “Natural Woman” or “Glory Box.” Of course the conceit hedges itself with feel like, as if femme fatale were a fast-fashion peplum one could don (or, as it were, a ridiculous bunny-ear mask to doff) then go back to wholesome Mariah twittering and star impressions. And of course “dangerous” just means “horny” — a funny sort of danger, with no risk of harming a man. But I’m vulnerable enough to escapism and cheesy shit to get into this anyway.
[6]

Micha Cavaseno: Hearing the news that Ariana Grande calls herself “Dangerous” is, well, silly. But dealing with a uninspired pop-soul production and “I have been… awakened” cliches feel like Grande’s continued conservatism is the definition of playing it safe.
[2]

Lauren Gilbert: Is there a new James Bond film coming out soon?  With a few more strings and less R&B production, this could be a better Bond theme than “Writing’s On The Wall.” Is Ariana Grande launching a television show where she’s a femme fatale?  (Please say yes.  I would watch the fuck out of that.)  Unfortunately, a song with lyrics “all girls wanna be like that/bad girls underneath like that” is a bastardization of the themes in the Arab feminist literature that Grande was inspired by.  I would love “Dangerous Woman” to be an exploration of female empowerment in pop: what it means to be a sex symbol when you’re barely old enough to drink, and how the West is happy to borrow the words of women from the Global South whenever they say something ~empowered~, but is perfectly happy to conduct business with a society that commits systemic violence against them.  Alas, this is a “Dangerous Woman” written by two (white) men.
[3]

Cassy Gress: This wants to be an arena jam, a get-down-on-your-knees-and-pound-the-floor kind of song, but Ariana doesn’t sing freely enough on this; this needs someone who will get fully absorbed into the song, like a Mary J. Blige or Fantasia.  Her range as usual is impressive, but her precision is rehearsed instead of an emotional outburst.
[6]

Alfred Soto: Forget whether Ariana Grande is dangerous. Concentrate, if it’s possible, on the kind of anonymous production and arrangement that sank Christina Aguilera in the mid ’00s.
[2]

Thomas Inskeep: This plod is about as dangerous as a piece of wheat toast.
[2]

Brad Shoup: I’m here for the chorus, which Grande gives a gonzo reading of without a bit of sensuality: a neat trick. The punch-drunk chorus sounds like something Matt Johnson discarded around ’93.
[5]

Scott Mildenhall: It’s cinematic, in the way you might get when the aspect ratio on your TV is wrong. There seems to be an attempt to achieve a sound that’s lush and expansive, but the result is something as flat as The Fens, and no amount of Grande’s vocal grandstanding can change that. “Dangerous Woman” is “Glory Box” with a couple of Catherine wheels.
[5]