搬運自：微信公眾號【評論搬一堆】（在原文基礎上添加了英語原文與排版調整）

翻譯：Wendy Lee

審譯：Lynn Liu

排版：Ryan-Chopin

In 2016,?Ariana Grande?manifested herself a future scandal. It was the premise of?her self-aware monologue?as a first-time host on “SNL,” but the gag was cutting. “I think I’m in a place where I’m ready to be caught in a real adult scandal, something to take my career to the next level,” she said. By that point, three years into her chart-topping musical career, her only offense of note had been?licking a bunch of donuts. Grande continued, over a bed of lounge piano: “Miley’s had ’em, Bieber’s had ’em, everyone’s had ’em, and each day, I sit by my window and I dream, ‘What will?my?scandal be?’” She was joking, but not really. A couple of years earlier she’d suggested as much in a?New York Times?interview:?“Maybe one day I’ll get away with something naughty.”

2016年，Ariana Grande表示未來她也會遭惡意誹謗。她第一次主持《周六夜現(xiàn)場》時，她表演了一段自嘲的獨白，“我想我已經(jīng)準備好被真正的成年人世界中的流言蜚語纏身了，它會讓我的事業(yè)到達一個新的高度。”她說。那時，她的專輯已經(jīng)蟬聯(lián)榜首三年，她唯一值得關注的“過錯”就是舔一堆甜甜圈。坐在長沙發(fā)上，沙發(fā)上有一架裝飾鋼琴，她接著說道：“Milley 被黑過…嗯…Bileber也挨過罵…嗯…每個人都曾經(jīng)被攻擊，每天，我坐在窗邊都會想，別人會攻擊我什么呢？”她在開玩笑，但也不完全是開玩笑。幾年前她接受《紐約時報》采訪時，她就談及到誹謗，而且說得更多：“可能有一天，我會帶著什么東西淘氣地走開吧?！?/p>

Of course, Grande couldn't possibly have known back then what exactly was in store for her, how difficult and cruel the world would prove to be. After confronting the aftermath of a deadly attack on the Manchester stop of her 2017 Dangerous Woman tour, she?retreated, reemerging a year later with new resolve. The story of her personal 2018 is a little too familiar now: She broke up with?Mac Miller, quickly and very publicly became engaged to Pete Davidson, and then called that relationship off while grieving Miller’s death. In the midst of it all was?Sweetener, a potent album that soundtracked her newfound role as pop's most lovable personality. With Rihanna focused on makeup and lingerie, Beyoncé preoccupied as the better half of the Carters, and Taylor unwilling to share anything beyond an entry-level grasp of politics, Grande ascended.

當然，那時她也不可能預料到未來會經(jīng)歷什么，世界會有多么艱難殘酷。2017年，Dangerous woman巡演曼徹斯特站遭遇自殺式恐襲，隨后她淡出了公眾視野，一年后又強勢回歸。她2018年的事就非常熟悉了：和Mac Miller分手，繼而又和Pete Davidson 高調訂婚，前男友猝然離世，悲痛萬分的她隨即取消了婚約。伴隨其中的是《Sweetener》的誕生，而這又是一張風靡全球的專輯。Grande作為最為人們最喜歡的流行歌手，這張專輯也賦予了她全新的定義。在Rihanna專注于美妝和性感內衣、Beyoncé酷愛駕車、Taylor不喜歡任何政治性過強的東西情況下，Grande 也在不斷成長。

In retrospect,?Sweetener?was a bridge, a necessary post-tragedy assertion of survival and strength. In contrast,?thank u, next, released just five months later, feels like the deliverance following?Sweetener's catharsis. When she put out the?title track?as a single last fall, it felt like?something had finally clicked. She’d not only survived a real adult scandal, but she’d also cracked it, and herself, wide open. She was untouchable. That seems to be the ethos of?thank u, next, which stands out in sublime contrast to her previous releases. There are no wonky guest features or unconvincing, if always technically adept, ballads, as on past albums; she no longer needs those distractions. But as usual, it’s Grande’s voice—gently whistling here, totally annihilating there, always undeniable—that carries the album.

回想起來，《Sweetener》是一座橋梁，是有關生存和力量的宣言，這在悲劇發(fā)生后十分重要。相比之下，《thank u, next》僅在其后五個月就問世，像是《Sweetener》宣泄后的一種解脫。去年秋天，她把主打歌作為單曲發(fā)行，像是什么事終于撥開云霧見天日一樣。她不僅挺過了一場真正的丑聞，還徹底擊碎了它，自己也釋然了。她是那么無懈可擊，這大概是《thank u, next》傳遞的精神,與她從前的專輯形成了鮮明的對比。沒有不靠譜的嘉賓特寫，也不似從前那般充斥著技藝嫻熟卻難讓人信服的民謠；她不再需要這些外在的東西了。但是像往常一樣，口哨聲在這邊響起，聲音卻在那邊完全湮沒，是Grande的嗓音無可否認地承載了整張專輯。

The release of “7 rings” as a single last month brought scandal anew. She was immediately?accused of both theft and appropriation, and an?unfortunate misspelled tattoo?punctuated the episode. And while she kinda-sorta engineered her own absolution in the form of?a 2 Chainz remix, Grande’s collaborators on the song—Victoria Monét and Tayla Parx—are also?her longtime friends and co-writers, not simply anonymous voices hired because black slang and Atlanta rap rhythms are trendy. In general,?thank u, next?is a calling card for?Monét?and?Parx, both signed artists with forthcoming projects of their own, who have helped Grande capture the zeitgeist in clever lines and melodies. (Almost too perfectly, “thank u, next” producer?Tommy Brown is co-writer Monét’s ex.) But “7 rings,” frankly, is just as good as any track on the last album or this one. I suspect it was actually the jarring shift in her tone that left people confused and disarmed; it seemed she’d ditched the inspiring moral high ground, luxuriating instead in Tiffany's jewelry and pink Veuve Clicquot.

前些時候“7 rings （七戒）”作為單曲發(fā)行招來了新的攻擊。她隨即被指控抄襲和盜用，一個不幸的紋身拼寫錯誤打斷了這一插曲。Grande 用Chainz 混音為自己擺脫了抄襲罪名，她這首歌的合作伙伴Victoria Monét 和 Tayla Parx，也逃過了指控。她們一直都是Grande的朋友，也是歌曲的共同作者，而并非僅僅是因為黑人俚語和亞特蘭大rap很受歡迎，從而Grande雇傭了她們這樣不是很出名的歌手。大體上說，《thank u, next》是Monét 和 Parx 的名片，作為簽約藝人，她們有自己即將到來的事業(yè)。用巧妙的歌詞和旋律捕捉時代潮流即是她們的工作。（幾乎太完美了，《thank u, next》的制作人是Monét的前男友。）但是坦白來說，“7 rings”和專輯里的歌一樣好，無論是上一張還是這張。我想對于她風格的急劇轉變，人們剛開始會疑惑，但慢慢地都會接受；她似乎已經(jīng)放棄了鼓舞人心的道德高地，轉而沉迷于Tiffany的珠寶和粉色凱歌香檳。

Though?thank u, next’s 12 songs are inspired by romantic and sexual relationships, taken together, they are actually assertions and affirmations of self, a reflection of millennial group chats the world over. “needy” is a therapist’s dream: “You can go ahead and call me selfish/But after all this damage, I can’t help it.” The extended space-metaphor of “NASA” is?The-Dream-lite by way of?Kacey Musgraves, executed in good faith. Soul singer?Wendy Rene’s “After Laughter (Comes Tears),”?most famously sampled by Wu-Tang on the heartbreaking “Tearz,” is cleverly repurposed into “fake smile,” possibly?thank u, next’s most compelling song and the thesis of this current era in Grande’s life. “I can’t fake another smile/I can’t fake like I’m alright/And I won’t say I’m feeling fine/After what I been through, I can’t lie,” she sings in reclamation.

盡管 《thank u, next》12首歌的靈感都源于愛情和兩性關系，但加在一起，都是對自我的斷言和肯定。是千禧一代對話整個世界的印證?！皀eedy（渴望被愛）”是療傷者的夢想：“你可以繼續(xù)該做的，可以說我自私，但這一切的災難過后我已難以控制。”（歌詞翻譯來自網(wǎng)易云音樂）“NASA”一曲中空間的隱喻被真誠的表現(xiàn)了出來，就像是Kacey Musgraves寫了一首The Dream的歌一樣。靈魂歌手Wendy Rene的“After Laughter(Comes Tears)（歡愉過后，只有無盡傷悲）”被巧妙融入“fake smile（強撐笑意 ）”中，它那讓人心碎的“Tearz”由Wu-Tang從原作品中提取出來，非常有名?！癴ake smile”可能是《thank u, next》最火的歌，也可能是Grande真實生活的反映?！拔乙褵o力再強撐笑意，我已無力假裝我過得不賴，我不會說我過得很好，在經(jīng)歷了這么多傷痛，我無力在對自己說謊?！保ǜ柙~翻譯來自網(wǎng)易云音樂）她動情地唱到。

There are more high points throughout—the soaring hook on the?Max Martin classic?“bad idea,” the slinky emotional honesty of “ghostin,” the delightful Beyoncé facsimile “make up”—but it’s still the album’s existence at all that thrills. The gentle familiarity of Grande’s musical references makes for effortlessly digestible, of-the-moment pop songs, but they’re elevated by a palpable despair that sits just below the surface. Beyond her four-octave soprano and robust wielding of it,?thank u, next?is buoyed by an urgency that could only come from the depths of her self-described “damage.” That it comes so soon after an already-spectacularly received album only swells the effect.

抓耳的Max Martin 的經(jīng)典之作“bad idea（壞壞的主意）”中有更多的亮點; 聲音柔媚，感情真摯的“ghostin（超生）”；極其歡快的Beyoncé翻版“make up（上妝）”。但真正讓人興奮的是這整部專輯。正因人們對Grande作品的參考之處略感熟悉，才讓她的流行歌可以很容易地被人理解，但在表面之下卻又一種明顯的絕望。除了她對四八度女高音應用自如，《thank u, next》也深受一種緊迫感的鼓舞，這一緊迫感源于她自己所說的“傷害”的深度。它緊接著之前那張已經(jīng)大受歡迎的專輯問世，無疑增強了它的影響力。

Grande explained in?a recent?Billboard?interview?that her motivation is “to release music like rappers do”—without the burden or unwieldiness of the major label machine, but certainly with much of its power. For all its spontaneity,?thank u, next?still registers as a big event. She has bragged that the album was?written in a week and recorded in a couple more, and while that expediency gives it its weightlessness, it also accounts for the occasional notes of sloppy writing; I can’t get past, for example, the premise of “bloodline,” which seems to confuse genealogy with hypothetical procreation. But in the rare spots where the production is grating and the writing limp, Grande makes up for it with skill and intuition.?thank u, next?may be an imperfect album but it’s a perfect next chapter.

近期接受《公告牌》采訪時，Grande表示，她想像說唱歌手那樣發(fā)行音樂——沒有負擔，沒有難搞的主流唱片公司，卻有著主流唱片公司的影響力。因為一切都是自然而然的流露，《thank u, next》的發(fā)行還是被看作是一件大事。她不無吹噓地說，專輯的創(chuàng)作僅在一周內就完成了，錄制也只是花了幾周的時間，可這權宜之計讓專輯本身變得無足輕重，這也解釋了為什么字跡有時會那么潦草；但我覺得這張專輯的質量不是很過關，就像在“bloodline （血脈）”中，似乎弄混了譜系學和假想生育。但在專輯中少有不足，Grande用她的技巧和直覺彌補了它們?！秚hank u, next》可能不那么完美，但它的確是一個完美的新篇章。