Penyanyi Ariana Grande tampil memukau di panggung MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) 2018. Tidak disangka, di balik penampilan glamournya itu ada tangan desainer Indonesia, Diana Putri . Ariana Grande memakai gaun berwarna gold karya desainer asal Surabaya, Jawa Timur tersebut. Diana pun mengungkapkan bahwa Ariana memesan gaun tersebut sejak awal Agustus 2018 "Jadi sekitar awal Agustus diberi tau PR saya kalau Ariana Grande mau custom gaun untuk dipakai di Video Music Award di New York," ujar Diana di Surabaya, Selasa (21/8/2018).
Ariana memesan dua gaun kepada desainer yang juga pernah memamerkan karyanya di New York Couture Fashion Week. Satu dari dua gaun tersebut adalah gaun berwarna gold yang dipakainya di MTV VMAs 2018.
Desainer Surabaya, Diana Putri. Foto: dok. Diana Putri
Baca Juga: Diana Putri, Desainer Surabaya Perancang Gaun Putri Kerajaan Georgia Diana menjelaskan awalnya Ariana memesan padanya gaun warna rose gold. Namun akhirnya diganti warna gold. Gaun yang dipakai pelantun Bang Bang ini dihiasi dengan taburan swarovski dari atas hingga bawah.
Penampilan Ariana Grande pakai gaun karya desainer Indonesia Diana Putri di MTV VMAs 2018. Foto: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for MTV
"Ariana bikinnya yang pertama model peplum sama bra dengan high waist pants. Tapi yang dipakai peplum itu bertabur Swarovski asli dari atas sampai bawah," ujarnya lagi. Baca Juga: Desainer Surabaya Raih Penghargaan di Couture Fashion Week, New York Sebelumnya, Diana sempat merahasiakan jika dirinya membuat gaun untuk Ariana Grande. Hal itu dilakukan karena memang sudah menjadi aturan di Hollywood. Dia diizinkan mengungkapkan ke publik ketika karyanya sudah dipakai oleh sang artis. "Kalau di setiap ada event ndak bisa bicara duluan, jadi kemarin memang saya rahasiakan. Ini baru dipakai dan saya baru berani bicara," ujarnya. Untuk pengerjaan gaun Ariana ini, Diana mengaku membutuhkan waktu selama lima hari dan dia hanya tidur selama empat jam setiap harinya. "Tapi saya seneng banget, bersyukur banget gaunnya dipakai Ariana di ajang yang paling bergengsi," imbuhnya. Tonton juga video: Gaya Selebriti di Red Carpet MTV VMA 2018 (eny/eny)
Ariana Grande telah bertunangan dengan komedian Pete Davidson beberapa bulan lalu. Di ajang MTV Video Music Awards 2018, Ariana dan Pete pun tampil pertama kalinya sebagai pasangan. Dalam acara karpet merah yang berlangsung, Senin, (20/8/2018) itu keduanya terlihat mesra. Sebelumnya Ariana Grande sempat mengejutkan para penggemar dengan kabar pertunangannya dengan Pete Davidson. Pasalnya kedua sejoli ini belum berpacaran terlalu lama sebelum memutuskan untuk bertunangan. Mereka juga kembali bahan perbincangan ketika diketahui mentato tubuh dengan gambar yang sama.
Beberapa kali tertangkap kamera paparazzi, keduanya seolah meresmikan hubungan di ajang VMAs tahun ini. Ariana Grande tampil dengan dress bernuansa silver metalik nan edgy. Busana itu pun dipadukan dengan stiletto boots over the knee.
Wanita 25 tahun tersebut kali ini tampak sedikit lebih dewasa. Bukan karena membawa pacar namun ketidakhadiran poni yang menjadi ciri khasnya. Ia pun tampak menggerai rambut yang ditata lurus dan meninggalkan gaya kuncir kuda. Sementara untuk makeup, penyanyi itu menerapkan aksentuasi wing eyeliner dan lipstik nude. Sedangkan sang kekasih tampak lebih santai. Pete Davidson tampil lebih kasual namun tetap berkesan. Ia mengenakan sweatshirt putih bertema NASA dan sweatpants hitam yang dipadu dengan sepasang sneakers.
Selama di karpet merah dan acara berlangsung, Ariana dan Pete pun tampak kasmaran. Keduanya tak jarang saling tersenyum, berbisik, hingga mencium. Ketika memenangkan pengharagaan, Ariana tentu tidak lupa berterima kasih kepada tunangannya tersebut. "Pete Davidson terima kasih karena sudah hadir," kata Ariana dalam pidato kemenangannya. Ariana Grande dan Pete Davidson dikabarkan mulai berpacaran pada bulan Mei dan bertunangan pada 11 Juni lalu. Ariana dilamar Pete dengan cincin berlian tiga karat. Keduanya sering tertangkap menghabiskan waktu bersama hingga pasang tato kembar. Tonton juga video: Gaya Selebriti di Red Carpet MTV VMA 2018 (ami/ami)
Ariana Grande’s journey from child star to “human cupcake” to heir apparent to the diva throne has been centered around discovering the song that defines her. Though her soprano is instantly recognizable—floating from sultry melismas to whistle singing, elocution be damned—locating her in the hits has been difficult at times. Her last two albums, 2014’s My Everything and 2016’s Dangerous Woman, were solid but musically scattershot, filled with trendy guests and weighed down by her bad-girl alter-ego. For Grande to ascend to the next creative level, she’d need more than just the range.
Sweetener, Grande’s first album since the 2017 bombing at her Manchester concert, feels more honest and distinct than any of her past work. Perhaps because tragedy has a way of revealing our true selves, the 25-year-old star finally allows herself to just take things as they come. She doesn’t force the heart-wrenching emotion of it all into tearful ballads and message-heavy anthems, but instead lets the low-key joy of the title track radiate across the album. The best parts of Sweetener have her looking for hope and stumbling upon the glow of new love. By the time you reach the interlude about her comedian fiancé Pete Davidson called “pete davidson,” where the word “happy” is repeated 22 times in just over a minute, whatever cynical snapshot of their quickie engagement that may have formed between That Lollipop Photo and reports of Big Dick Energy has fallen away. Let the yung diva love in peace.
Grande co-wrote more songs than usual (10 out of 15) and formed a clear bond with Pharrell, who serves as a songwriter and producer across Sweetener’s stronger half. His funk-lite idiosyncrasies set a bright tone and help elevate the record’s more conventional song structures. Grande and Williams leave themselves plenty of room to play around with texture in clever ways, particularly when it comes to layered vocals and skittering percussion. Set to little more than panting, tongue clicks, and keyboard orbs, “R.E.M” finds novel ways for Grande to expand her vocal repertoire. Singing in a stream of consciousness style about the man in her dreams, she flows in and out of R&B crooning, doo-wop vocal runs, gospel harmonizing, cheeky sing-talking, and a surprisingly precise rap flow (“‘Scuse me, um? I love you/I know that’s not the way to start a conversation, trouble”). She doesn’t even need a money note to stamp her mark.
The non-Pharrell tracks come courtesy of past Grande collaborators like Max Martin, ILYA, and TB Hits, and largely tap into the ongoing trap influence on the Top 40. Not one of them is outright filler, but an ode to a toxic ex like “everytime” is markedly less original—the kind of bad-decision-making set to ominous thumping that’s all over the charts. Grande’s got her own new rules, though: She tweaks the daydreaming of Imogen Heap into the throbbing EDM twinkle of “goodnight n go” and turns the melancholy of Drake into a meditation on anxiety with “breathin.” Neither is a direct extension of her work with Williams, but both feel like natural fits on an album all about finding the light.
Grande may have delivered more of a full-album vibe than a bangers-filled juggernaut, but there is at least one career-defining moment here—the song she has been looking for, wrapped in an unassuming package. Sweetener ends with “get well soon,” the sort of freeform, self-help soul ballad you’d maybe expect to round out a Beyoncé opus. Anyone who knows how gracefully Grande handled the horrific events at her Manchester show last year will recognize an equally graceful response to her own emotional aftermath in this song. Channeling all the conflicting voices in her head, Grande sings striking downbeat counter-melodies of “girl what’s wrong witchu come back down.” She soothes herself with her own luscious harmonies, urges fans to take care of one another, and modestly assures that anyone can work their way to the top. Like much of Sweetener, the song is musically sparse but encompasses a kaleidoscope of vocal tones. It is here, four albums in, that the true multitudes of her voice, and by extension herself, blossom.
Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images For 102.7 KIIS FM’s Wango Tango
We’ve all had a wild year, but Ariana Grande might’ve had the wildest. Since last spring, the Floridian singer with the outsize voice had her world rocked by a terror attack at her arena show in Manchester. Just two weeks later, she made a brave return to the stage for an uplifting performance at One Love Manchester, a star-studded benefit for victims of the bombing and their families. Her romance with the rapper Mac Miller fizzled out, and she later revealed that she was dating Saturday Night Live’s Pete Davidson, and that the new romance had quickly bloomed into an engagement. Just a few months later, the singer is back with album number four. On this month’s new Sweetener, Grande spices up the expected array of Max Martin, ILYA, and TB Hits productions that netted platinum certifications for Yours Truly, My Everything, and Dangerous Woman with a half-dozen quirky beats from Pharrell. The shift in personnel lends the new album a deeper R&B cred than the three before it, and that gives the singer ample opportunity to gush about falling in love.
Sweetener is serious enough in its commitment to break with the traditions of Ariana Grande albums to serve three big, weird Pharrell collaborations right up front. “Blazed” is textbook Skateboard P, all funky, ascending keys and busy percussion. “The Light Is Coming” features a capable Nicki Minaj guest rap and chiptune affectations, and shifting tempos reminiscent of the last N.E.R.D. album, No One Ever Really Dies. “R.E.M.” remakes a five-year-old Beyoncé demo, keeping the original song’s gorgeous doo-wop vocals but easing off of the hip-hop verses. It’s a bold sequence of songs because Ari albums have a tendency of dropping two megaton hit records by track four (and because the last person to schedule this many Pharrell beats on the same album was Justin Timberlake, who didn’t do such a great job of it). Sweetener is an exercise in world-building. It’s as interested in piecing together a breezy, gregarious mood as it is in crafting hits. There’s no EDM banger until “No Tears Left to Cry” at track ten, and it’s the only one on the album. As a lead single, it’s a delectable fakeout, a promise of dance-floor heat the record has very little intention of delivering. A few fans of Ariana Grande’s dance-pop hits are seething this week.
Anchoring this album in the jazzy chords, wonky synth tones, and offbeat samples Pharrell favors gives it a more playful and adventurous energy than the mechanized radio pop Ariana usually gets from all the in-demand pop and EDM beatmakers. The singer’s voice is a joy in this setting — in any setting. Elastic vocal runs and delightful harmonies make this batch of lyrics about the ups and downs of a whirlwind romance seem all the more lived in, and Pharrell matches the energy on cuts like the title track, which outfits Ariana’s food/sex double entendres with an ad-lib track that sounds like someone scoffing at them in real time, and “Successful,” whose drum programming includes a track of sensual, rhythmic breathing. Other collaborators match his methodology. On “God Is a Woman,” “Better Off,” and “Goodnight n Go,” ILYA, Hit-Boy, and TB Hits use kick drums as melodic instruments in the same way P’s production on the title track (and a few on the Timberlake album) does. Working with producers who have very specific signature sounds, like Pharrell and the mid-tempo disco-beat tactician Max Martin, sometimes means struggling to come out with a product greater than the sum of its highly recognizable parts; Ariana, a bubbly singer with chops beyond her years, doesn’t have this problem.
The baking metaphor powering the title track serves as a mission statement for the whole album: “When life deals us cards, makes everything taste like it is salt / Then, you come through like the sweetener you are to bring the bitter taste to a halt.” Ariana’s happy, and she intends to pass the feeling along to anyone who’ll listen. The album’s not all confections and kisses though; cohabitation and companionship are rewarding, but they also require work. Sweetener’s flow between songs about desire and songs about the attendant stresses of making a relationship work feel natural to the dizzying sensation of falling for someone and finding a routine for living that appeases both parties. The album’s not afraid to talk about working out the kinks: “Everytime” perches on the point where attraction threatens to become obsession; in “Breathin” and “Get Well Soon,” the singer coaches herself through anxiety attacks and fears about her future.
This is a confessional album when it comes to matters of the heart, but if you dive into Sweetener thinking the calm-after-the-storm conceit of “No Tears Left to Cry” suggested an album about overcoming tragedy, that’s not the spirit of the thing. We hear a lot about Ariana being in a good place and working hard to stay there, but not so much about how she got there. Sweetener offers gourmet parfait, when some listeners might have expected steak. This isn’t a knock against the quality of the music; it’s perhaps unfair to make the soul-searching honesty of albums like Bey’s Lemonade or Kesha’s Rainbow the bar for how a pop star processes trying times and approaches the business of returning to work afterward. What counts is that Ariana Grande seems at peace after what looked like a rough patch, and Sweetener lives up to its name as a heartening dip into the sights, tastes, and smells of blossoming romance.
