Ariana Grande announces release date of her seventh album Eternal Sunshine

Ariana Grande has announced that her seventh album, titled Eternal Sunshine, will be released on 8 March this year.

On Wednesday 17 January, the US pop star posted the date to her social media pages along with three artwork images, in which she can be seen wearing a white shirt with red lace gloves, paired with red lipstick.

Further details, including a tracklist and any collaborations, have yet to be revealed. The album is available for pre-order now.

The title appears to be a reference to the cult 2004 indie film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, the movie follows a couple who undergo a procedure to have each other erased from their memories after their breakup.

The film was in turn named after a line from Alexander Pope’s 1717 poem, Eloisa to Abelard.

Grande’s last album, Positions, was released in 2020. It received mixed reviews, including three stars from The Independent’s Adam White.

“This is a record firmly in her vibey R&B wheelhouse, dominated by sparse midtempos and fluttering melodies,” he wrote. “Production duties remain in the hands of those she’s always worked with (TBHits, who’s been on staff since her debut, is credited on every track) – though Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh, the ubiquitous Swedes behind many of her biggest pure-pop hits, are no-shows.

“Lockdown probably didn’t help in terms of collaborators, with Positions seemingly recorded at home or over Zoom, comfort zones fully stayed in.”

The announcement of Eternal Sunshine comes shortly after Grande, 30, shared her first solo single in three years, “Yes, And?”, to positive reviews from critics.

In a four-star review, The Independent’s critic Helen Brown said the track was redolent of Madonna’s “Vogue” thanks to its shuffling, house-influenced beat.

She also praised Grande for the lyrics, which appeared to hit back at speculation over her private life and the frenzy surrounding her split from husband Dalton Gomez.

Shortly after announcing her divorce, Grande was confirmed to be dating actor Ethan Slater, with whom she is set to star in a film adaptation of the musical Wicked.

“My face is sitting, I don't need no disguise (I don't need no disguise),” Grande sings. “Don't comment on my body, do not reply/ Your business is yours and mine is mine/ Why do you care so much whose **** I ride?”

“Swift’s wit is sharper, but Grande’s ability to flutter so prettily through the storms of social media has its own warm, delicate appeal,” Brown wrote in her review. “She reminds me of a hummingbird, all iridescent precision and nectar, pretty notes flying so fast you don’t notice the blur of her wings.”