Ariana Grande’s fourth studio album ‘Sweetener’ has produced some impressive songs such as “God is a Woman,” “No Tears Left to Cry” and “The Light is Coming.” After a week since the release of the album, Ariana releases another single from the album, “Breathin.” This is the ninth track on the album.
The Ilya Salmanzadeh-produced track is quite slow paced, matching the underlying theme of the song. A lot of critical appraisals is being shown towards “Breathin,” even as far as to call it the best song on the album.
“Breathin” speaks about breathing…the air…when you feel it hard to breathe. When asked what the song tries to tell about, Ariana Grande replied “Anxiety.”
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Listen to “Breathin” by Ariana Grande
Download “Breathin” Single on iTunes and Amazon
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The song has many references to dealing with anxiety. Being an artist of the caliber of Ariana Grande, she must be facing anxiety on a daily basis. There really is no shortcut to dealing with anxiety, except for medicine, than to just breathe and calm yourself down.
Lyrics Review and Song Meaning of “Breathin”
Ariana appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and explained the motivation behind this song.
“‘Breathin’ is about breathing …when you’re anxious. It’s about anxiety and feeling like you can’t …you know, when you can’t get a full breath. It’s like the worst feeling in the whole world. It’s a song about that feeling…I was having lots of (anxiety attacks). We were in the studio, we were writing and I was like, ‘Ugh can’t breathe.’ And they were like, ‘We’re going to write this song.’ And I was like, ‘OK, I still can’t breathe, but we’ll write it.'”
Verse 1
Ariana explains her experience with anxiety attacks. Some days she gets it even when she really needs to focus on her work. Anxiety is really an unwelcomed guest at the most inappropriate times. When you get an anxiety attack, you tend to get unreal hallucinations such as the room spinning around you.
Overthinking or overcomplicating things usually lead to anxiety attacks. Planning and releasing of a new album or a world tour could be massive amounts of stress to tolerate.
People advise her to take medications to deal with anxiety. Xanax is a popular medication given to cope with anxiety, however, there are many cases where this has lead to dire consequences.
Pre-chorus
More experiences of anxiety follow in these lyrics. The intense sensation of blood pumping fast through the system, the spinning room, the sky falling down are all classic hallucinations related to anxiety attacks.
Ariana refers to a “you” who tells her that breathing is the solution to all this. She could be referring to her fiance Pete Davidson.
Verse 2
Ariana Grande speaks about dealing with anxiety attacks in the second verse of “Breathin.”
Sometimes, it is quite difficult to navigate out of an anxiety. When you get the attack, you tend to be more focused on the hallucinations around you and it makes things even worse. It is not easy to get clarity in the middle of a panic attack. It is not easy to tune out the voices in your head. But breathing is the solution she has found.
“Breathin” is a personal revelation of the singer’s experience. She spoke about the overwhelming experience of writing songs for her new album, producing it, meeting deadlines and promoting it. Little wonder, she has anxiety attacks from time to time.
Let us know what you think about this new single and lyrics of “Breathin” by Ariana Grande. Do you agree with our interpretation? If not, leave a comment below.
Full Lyrics to “Breathin” by Ariana Grande