At last, “AG4” has an official name and release date. Sweetener will be here before we know it, and in the meantime, we’ve rounded up all the intel that’s known about Ariana Grande’s next record.
Grande took over The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday (May 1), revealing long-awaited details about the album, as well as the news that she’ll be opening the Billboard Music Awards on May 20 with an epic performance.
The singer also appeared in both musical and non-musical sketches for the episode, and debuted her comeback single “No Tears Left To Cry” on television. “Thanks to my bff @jimmyfallon for letting me co host the show tonight and perform No Tears for the first time on tv,” Grande wrote on Instagram after the fact. “You’re my favorite always and forever!”
Here’s what we know so far:
Title
Grande has named her new record Sweetener, and explained the meaning during her Tonight Show appearance shortly after making the announcement. “It’s kind of about bringing light to a situation or to someone’s life,” Grande said, “Or somebody else brings life to your life. Sweetening the situation.”
“I’ve been away too long. I want to say everything,” she added, later tweeting the album name — in an upside-down font, of course.
By the way: Grande has clearly been thinking about the title for a while; she posted an Instagram photo on Nov. 5, 2016 with a caption that no one thought twice about at the time.
??u?????s
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) May 2, 2018
Release Date
It’s “coming this summer,” Grande told host Jimmy Fallon, though she didn’t give a date at first. Later, Grande revealed that she’ll be doing “something special on every 20th” leading up to the album release, starting with her BBMAs performance on May 20.
Without being prompted, Grande spilled the beans herself. “There’s only three 20ths until the big thing,” she blurted, and all it took was a bit of simple math: Sweetener will arrive on July 20th!
Collaborators
Grande name-dropped producers ILYA, Savan Kotecha, Max Martin and Pharrell Williams when prompted by Fallon. Pharrell has since tweeted about the album — with a typo, but still — and responded to an excited fan.
SWEETNER –??–?—————-???—————-????————– @ArianaGrande
— Pharrell Williams (@Pharrell) May 2, 2018
She is and issooo Fire
— Pharrell Williams (@Pharrell) May 2, 2018
Track List
Grande didn’t go too in-depth here, but she did mention a few songs that will appear on Sweetener: “R.E.M.,” “The Light Is Coming,” “God Is a Woman” and the intro, “Raindrops.”
“God Is a Woman,” which was first teased in her “No Tears Left To Cry” music video, is apparently her grandmother’s favorite. “She loves God Is A Woman,” the singer told Fallon. “I’ll ask her, ‘Hey Nonna, what do you think of my single? Do you like No Tears Left To Cry?’ She was like, ‘I love it…but you know Ariana, can we listen to God Is A Woman again?'”