評(píng)分：A-

搬運(yùn)自：微信公眾號(hào)【評(píng)論搬一堆】（在原文基礎(chǔ)上添加了英語(yǔ)原文與排版調(diào)整）

翻譯：Lynn Liu

校正：Ryan-Chopin

Over the past five years,?Ariana Grande?has established herself as a constantly on-the-rise pop star with an impressive and canny sense of taste. Armed with a coterie of producers and songwriters — including perpetual pop powerhouse Max Martin — the 25-year-old singer has established a versatile sense of range, shifting from electro-pop's neon glow to various strains of big-tent EDM and the perpetually evolving confines of hip-hop and R&B without batting so much as an eyelash. Grande's selection of collaborators?has been similarly on-trend, occasionally unlocking previously unexplored strengths in her work with artists ranging from Zedd, the Weeknd, and Mac Miller. Her pop-cultural currency has possessed a bulletproof quality; how else does one prominently feature a pop pariah like Iggy Azalea on a single like "Problem" from 2014's?My Everything?and walk away not only unscathed, but with a bonafide and critically pleasing hit?

在過(guò)去的五年中，A妹（Ariana Grande）憑借其令人深刻而獨(dú)到的品味，成為一名有長(zhǎng)紅趨勢(shì)的流行歌手。

這位25歲的歌手擁有一群音樂(lè)合作伙伴，包括封神的“熱單”制造機(jī)——Max Martin。A妹早已確立了她的多重音樂(lè)風(fēng)格——從霓虹燈下的流行電音到各種各樣包容性極強(qiáng)的電子舞曲，但如今受到越來(lái)越火的嘻哈音樂(lè)和R&B音樂(lè)的限制，A妹的音樂(lè)轉(zhuǎn)型之路并不會(huì)有我們想象中的那么快。A妹在合作者的選擇上同樣緊跟大眾潮流，在與Zedd，the Weeknd和Mac Miller等藝術(shù)家合作中，A妹可能會(huì)流露出全新的音樂(lè)實(shí)力。她的流行文化擁有無(wú)懈可擊的特性。她與不可小覷的流行新星——Iggy Azalea在2014年的合作——收錄于A妹三專《My everything》中的歌曲“Problrm”則很好的證明了這一點(diǎn)，A妹做到了不僅沒(méi)有FLOP（過(guò)氣），反而倍受歡迎，大獲成功。

The sonic palette that Grande works in frequently reflects where chart-pop is currently at, or the point at which it's about to arrive — which is precisely what makes her fourth full-length,?Sweetener, such a surprising left turn. A practical album-length collaboration with Pharrell Williams, who holds writing and production credits on the majority of its 15 tracks,?Sweetener?is decidedly and boldly out of step with current-day pop sounds. At a time when Post Malone's oily, empty genre-blend continues to dominate nearly every inch of pop and R&B imaginable, Grande has seemingly ditched any attempt to push either genre forward, instead retreating into the breezy, clean, and nerdy (not to mention N.E.R.D.-y) sounds representing the 2000s-era reign of Williams and Chad Hugo's production team the Neptunes. Quite possibly the only way that?Sweetener?reflects current trends in 2018's largely trendless pop arena is its embrace of negative space throughout; instead of the buzzsaw synths and booming bass that's defined previous Grande highs, there's cool-handed guitar licks and crisp, clean percussion you could practically eat off of.

A妹經(jīng)常使用的樂(lè)器sonic palette基本能代表如今的流行樂(lè)，或是能指出流行音樂(lè)的下一步走向——這使得她能準(zhǔn)確地制作出第四張專輯《sweetener》，帶來(lái)一次出人意料的轉(zhuǎn)型。這張專輯是與 Pharrell Williams合作而成的，整張專輯由他監(jiān)制制作了15首歌，但這張專輯與近段時(shí)間的流行樂(lè)整體不搭調(diào)。當(dāng)Post Malone油膩而空洞的大雜燴音樂(lè)繼續(xù)主宰流行樂(lè)和R&B時(shí)，A妹似乎已經(jīng)放棄選擇其中任何一類來(lái)嘗試，而是回歸到一些輕快、素凈、甚至有些呆板的音樂(lè)中去（不是指N.E.R.D.-y），而這類音樂(lè)在21世紀(jì)初，曾被Williams 和Chad Hugo所在的The Neptunes支配著。甜味劑之所以能代表2018年當(dāng)前流行樂(lè)壇的趨勢(shì)，是因?yàn)樗馨菡麄€(gè)負(fù)面空間；有人曾用嘈雜的蜂鳴音和隨波逐流的低音來(lái)評(píng)判出A妹的音樂(lè)水準(zhǔn)，而如今我們聽(tīng)到更多的是炫酷而清脆的吉他聲和干凈利落的打擊樂(lè)。

To this point, Grande's held a sterling reputation as a singles artist, her albums' obvious highlights possessing a near-ubiquitous presence on pop radio with more than a few deep-cut gems tucked away in the tracklists. The relative success of?Sweetener?singles "God is a Woman" and "No Tears Left to Cry" suggest that she hasn't yet lost her touch in that department — but within the context of the album proper, they also represent?Sweetener‘s least impactful moments, disrupting the record's singular, subtle vibe. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; rather, it speaks to the artistic evolution that?Sweetener?represents for Grande, a consciously auteurist gesture cementing her as an album-oriented artist.

如今，A妹的盛譽(yù)絕無(wú)僅有，她的新專輯也充滿亮點(diǎn)，可謂流行電臺(tái)曲目列表中的神秘寶藏?！秙weetener》中，“God is a Woman”和“No Tears Left to Cry”的成功有效地鞏固了她的流行地位——但在專輯的背景下，它們也僅代表了《sweetener》初步的、甚微的影響力，對(duì)唱片的獨(dú)特性，和其微妙的氛圍都有所干擾。這不一定是壞事，更確切地說(shuō)，它提醒我們《sweetener》代表的是A妹的音樂(lè)藝術(shù)發(fā)展道路，這是一種主觀意識(shí)形態(tài)，再次鋪拓她逐步成為專輯型音樂(lè)人的道路。

Despite possessing a nearly incomparable vocal range, Grande leans on her lower register more than ever here, her every sigh and swirl adding texture to?Sweetener‘s alluringly blank sound. As much as the album's commitment to an overarching vibe represents new artistic territory for Grande, it's also a throwback of sorts to the beginnings of her career — specifically, her 2013 debut?Yours Truly, which featured heavy writing and production contributions from Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds to craft a velvety, lush, and youthful take on 90s-era hip-hop and R&B styles.

很少人能達(dá)到A妹這種大跨度的音域，而這次，她重點(diǎn)利用好了她的低音域，每一次誘人地?fù)Q氣聲和轉(zhuǎn)音都為《sweetener》中偏空洞的音色增添了質(zhì)感。正如其專輯意向所旨，對(duì)于A妹來(lái)說(shuō)，在這種包羅萬(wàn)象的氛圍中呈現(xiàn)出的新藝術(shù)領(lǐng)域，也是她職業(yè)生涯的一種新開(kāi)始，或者說(shuō)一次大逆轉(zhuǎn)。這體現(xiàn)于她于2013年發(fā)行的首張專輯《Yours Truly》。這一張專輯有著沉穩(wěn)的創(chuàng)作風(fēng)格，此風(fēng)格源于Kenneth Edmonds（又叫“Babyface”），造就了天鵝絨般華麗的音樂(lè)，極具90年代嘻哈和R&B色彩。

But more than any of her previous works, Grande is in the driver's seat behind?Sweetener‘s wheel. As she revealed in?a?Time?cover story earlier this year, the album represents the first time she took on lead writing credits, and it feels unmistakably personal as a result. Her sly sense of humor — an under-appreciated facet, perhaps, of Grande's public persona — creeps in during "god is a woman," a bold declaration of deification by way of sexual ecstasy that doubles as one of the cleverest lyrical flexes in pop music this year. She takes a similarly boasting tone over the wheezing, pleasing funk of "Successful," ticking off her achievements before stating simply, "It feels so good to be so young/ And have this fun and be successful."

但是與她以前的作品相比，A妹更能掌控《sweetener》全局。她于今年早些時(shí)候在《時(shí)代周刊》采訪中提到，制作這張專輯時(shí)，她第一次擔(dān)任主創(chuàng)作人，因此這張專輯有絕對(duì)的個(gè)性化與私人性質(zhì)。在“god is a woman”中，她那單純的幽默悄悄潛入了我們的視線。這首歌富含了大膽的神化宣言，并且在個(gè)性化地喜悅中宣揚(yáng)這種觀念，可謂今年樂(lè)壇中最巧妙的抒情表達(dá)之一。她同樣將其運(yùn)用于“successful”中，令人愉悅的放松體驗(yàn)中混雜著同樣夸張的語(yǔ)氣，一筆勾勒出她的成就，然后輕快地唱到：“It feels so good to be so young/ And have this fun and be successful.（年輕的感覺(jué)真是好，樂(lè)趣無(wú)窮，還能獲此殊榮。）”?。

Sweetener?feels most personal in its evocation of the dizzying smack that new love can possess — a vibe cultivated, no doubt, by Grande's much-discussed and ultra-public engagement to comedian and?Saturday Night Live?star Pete Davidson (whose name adorns the title of the album's brief, undulating penultimate track). Sensuality abounds, particularly on the title track's plush, declarative passion — but there's also smaller details reflecting the simplicity of starting anew, and the thrill of exploring human connection. "Goodnight n Go" flips a sample of Imogen Heap's 2005 single "Goodnight and Go," as Grande implores her paramour to skip the train home in favor of staying up all night and talking before exclaiming, "We'd be good/ We'd be great together." It reflects an explicitly devotional take: the intoxicating desire to lose oneself in a new romance — and it's similarly impossible not to give in to?Sweetener?as a whole, a fascinating and sneakily complex pop album that adds new creative wrinkles to Grande's already estimable repertoire.?

我們?cè)凇秙weetener》中能感受到A妹極致的個(gè)性，因?yàn)樗鼏酒鹆巳藗冎杂谛聭偾榈哪欠N感覺(jué)。毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，這種感覺(jué)是由A妹與Pete Davidson（喜劇演員、曾登上《周六夜現(xiàn)場(chǎng)》）戀愛(ài)后所激發(fā)的。專輯中的倒數(shù)第二首歌也以A妹男友的名字來(lái)命名。其帶來(lái)的感官享受非常豐富，尤其是專輯同名曲，我們甚至能感受到話語(yǔ)間的激情。但也有一些小細(xì)節(jié)體現(xiàn)了A妹“一切從簡(jiǎn)再來(lái)”的想法，以及探索人情紐帶的興奮。“goodnight n go”采樣Imogen Heap于2005年發(fā)行的單曲 “Goodnight and Go”。歌中，A妹懇求她的愛(ài)人多停留片刻，不要登上遠(yuǎn)行的列車，整夜暢聊，然后發(fā)誓：“We’d be good/ We’d be great together（我們會(huì)好好在一起/我們?cè)谝黄鸬娜兆訒?huì)很精彩）”。它展現(xiàn)出一種虔誠(chéng)的信仰：令人陶醉的欲望使其在新戀情中弱化自我——不止于此，你同樣也會(huì)沉醉于《sweetener》整張專輯，這是一張讓人著迷又神秘復(fù)雜的流行音樂(lè)專輯，它為A妹本就出彩的音樂(lè)作品畫上濃墨重彩的一筆。