A little over a year ago, Ariana Grande made the pop world a little bit lighter with the release of Eternal Sunshine, her seventh studio album.
Crafted in the afterglow of her divorce from realtor Dalton Gomez during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes that paused Wicked production, Eternal Sunshine arrived atop the Billboard 200 (her sixth set to reach the summit), launching a pair of Hot 100 No. 1 hits in “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” and “Yes, And?” In the time since the album’s release, Grande picked up three Grammy nods for the LP and its singles, including the Brandy and Monica-assisted rework of “The Boy Is Mine,” released live renditions of nearly half the record and began teasing a short film inspired by the Peaches storyline that began with the “We Can’t Be Friends” music video.
Of course, about midway through 2024, Grande shifted her focus to all things G(a)linda. Alongside Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp, Grande and the Wicked cast racked up over $744 million at the global box office and 10 Academy Award nominations, ultimately winning best costume design and best production design. For her performance in the Jon M. Chu-helmed film adaptation of the iconic Broadway musical, Grande earned her first Oscar nod for best supporting actress; at the March 2 ceremony, she and Erivo opened the show with a medley of Oz classics, including “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (from The Wizard of Oz), “Home” (from The Wiz) and “Defying Gravity” (from Wicked).
On March 12 — just ten days after the Oscars — Grande announced the Brighter Days Ahead short film to accompany the final deluxe version of Eternal Sunshine. She already released a “slightly deluxe” version of the album a few weeks after the standard set dropped, but this new edition features six new solo tracks, including an extended version of “Intro (End of the World).”
Grande has spent most of March teasing both the new songs and the short film via her Brighter Days hotline (934-33-ERASE), teaser trailers, and cryptic social media posts. Co-directed by Grande (in her directorial debut) and Christian Breslauer, Brighter Days Ahead draws inspiration from 2004’s Oscar-winning Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and features parts of several Eternal Sunshine tracks. The film follows Grande’s Peaches character as she explores the memories she erased in the “We Can’t Be Friends” music video.
Just like she gave the world new music in the lead-up to Wicked, Grande has dropped off some more musical goodies ahead of Wicked: For Good, which hits theatres later this fall (Nov. 21).
Here’s every new Eternal Sunshine: Brighter Days Ahead track ranked.
