Cover In her dark, synth-heavy album Petal, Ariana Grande confronts parasocial obsession and body commentary through visceral horror motifs. Read our review of her most candid reclamation era yet
In her dark, synth-heavy album Petal, Ariana Grande confronts parasocial obsession and body commentary through visceral horror motifs. Read our review of her most candid reclamation era yet
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Stepping out of the pink bubble of ‘Wicked’, Ariana Grande’s eighth studio album confronts fame, relentless body scrutiny and public entitlement with sharp synth-pop and haunting resilience
Fame is a gilded cage: the glitz and glamour cost you your peace, your privacy and, more often than not, your sanity. To live in the spotlight is to exist under a permanent microscope—trapped in a fishbowl where every move is judged, and no expectation is ever met.
Yet, in Ariana Grande’s eighth studio album, Petal, she talks about how, despite suffering the consequences of fame, she is still in control of her own destiny.
Petal arrives two years after the emotional introspection of Eternal Sunshine and directly following the whirlwind promotion of the Wicked film adaptation. This album is also a continuation of Grande’s collaboration with producers Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh.
Stepping out from behind the pink bubble of her Wicked character, Glinda, the album opens with a transcending track, kiss me, which serves as an ethereal, cinematic gateway into her new era. Blending delicate, layered vocal harmonies with a creeping, atmospheric synth production, the track bridges the gap between Glinda’s dreamy theatricality and the darker, more introspective reality Grande is about to confront in the album.
Followed by the first single, hate that i made you love me, which reveals Grande’s feelings of regret about fame. It is a sinister portrayal of a narrative where the haunted is now the one haunting those who abused her music, pain and identity.
Above Ariana Grande’s ‘hate that i made you love me’ music video
When the music video for the second single on the album and the title track, Petal, dropped, it was instantly overwhelmed by commentary on the intense speculation about her physical appearance, discussions about her thinness and ongoing internet diagnoses. Ironically, this intense scrutiny proved the music video’s point: by holding up a mirror to the public’s constant urge to evaluate, diagnose and demand changes to her body and career. Following a struggling actress named Pepper, the Petal video turned the invasive public gaze into the central theme of the artwork itself.
By leaning into horror motifs and sharp visual metaphors, Grande mirrors the public’s intrusive gaze back onto the onlooker, confronting the question of what lines fans and concerned observers can cross.
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Above Ariana Grande’s ‘Petal’ music video
The album is packaged in a surprisingly dark, horror-like sonic, driven by heavy, dramatic ‘80s synthesisers. Vocally, Grande makes a deliberate stylistic shift. She veers away from her signature high-register whistle notes and dramatic belting. Her vocal delivery centres on crisp diction and a warm, grounded wholeness. Lower registers and fuller vocal tone give the lyrics a raw, intimate urgency.
Between the tracks stay, oh well, big feelings and freak, Grande constructs a compelling emotional pendulum. Here, the armour of her pop-star persona cracks, exposing the exhausting internal tug-of-war between fighting to retain agency over her life and simply surrendering to the overwhelming noise of public perception.
Eventually, we reach a turning point in the album with warning signs (interlude), as Grande continues to express vulnerability and disappointment at the conditional affection she often receives from fans.
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From this point on, Grande delivers a candid, sharp and deeply resilient response to years of relentless public scrutiny, with tracks such as like i do, never get over me and bad thing. In almost a femme fatale-like fashion, she reclaims her power, weaponising her sensuality and sharp wit to dismantle the restrictive pedestal the public placed her on.
Finally, with nowhere, nobody, she shifts effortlessly from a defensive stance to owning her desirability and artistic authority on her own uncompromising terms. A resilient conclusion to a deeply haunting album.
At its core, Petal is a record about newfound confidence, revitalisation and taking charge of one’s own narrative and sexuality. In her own words, the album is about “something full of life and growing through the cracks of something cold, hard and challenging.” It is a celebration of resilience: bouncing back and learning to bloom in the most unexpected environments.
Against the backdrop of her decision to step back from the spotlight amid scrutiny, Grande reflects on her trajectory—the highs, the setbacks and the exhausting weight of audience expectations. Petal isn’t just an album about surviving public judgment; it is a declaration of personal autonomy and artistic evolution. Cold and challenging as the concrete may be, Grande proves she can still bloom her way through the cracks.
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Karis Tsang serves as a Junior Associate Editor at Tatler Philippines. She tells stories at the intersection of high society, local arts and pop culture. A UST journalism alum, she has a knack for finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. When she’s not typing furiously against a deadline, she’s likely getting lost in a theatre, overanalysing style or planning her next creative rabbit hole.
