The song features an ode to “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music before switching to a mixture of pop and trap music. Critics have accused Grande of cultural appropriation since the release of her single and music video for “7 Rings.” And with a larger platform inevitably comes more scrutiny. With Edmonds’ magic touch, Grande was able to fashion an album that was a reflection of the music she enjoyed growing up: hip-hop and R&B with splashes of pop and musical theater–inspired tracks.įast-forward six years later, and Grande, now five studio albums deep, is one of the biggest pop stars on the planet. But Grande’s secret weapon was that she worked with Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, arguably one of the most successful R&B producers of all time. Its sampling of Brenda Russell’s “A Little Bit of Love” - which was later repurposed to create Big Pun’s “Still Not a Player” - was executive producer Harmony Samuels’ idea.
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In fact, Grande’s lead single from the album, “The Way,” featuring Mac Miller, was often mistaken by unfamiliar listeners to be a Mariah Carey song. The project was crafted as an homage to doo-wop music of the ’50s and ’60s accentuated with vocal stylings reminiscent of the big-voiced divas of the ’90s like Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. “She doesn’t know it yet, but it’s gotta happen.” Rosenberg added that Grande, a white girl from Boca Raton, Florida, was resurrecting a bygone era of "’90s feeling good R&B.” And by doing so, “This girl’s filling a lane that in hip-hop isn’t really being occupied right now.”Īt the time, Grande was 20 years old, celebrating the release of her debut album, Yours Truly. “I’m telling you, she’s knocking some of these bitches out the box,” Darden said. In a 2013 interview with Hot 97, radio personalities Ebro Darden and Peter Rosenberg were enamoured with then-newcomer Ariana Grande.