“fake smile” is the fifth track on Ariana Grande’s fifth studio album ‘thank u, next, released on February 8, 2019. Although majority of the songs speak about relationships and human connections, this particular song talks about staying genuine. We would love a music video for this.
‘thank u, next’ album dropped within 5 months since her fourth studio album ‘Sweetener’ release. The main reason behind this rapid album release was the rollercoaster of a personal life Ariana had throughout 2018. She wrote “thank u, next” lead single based off of her two unsuccessful relationships with later rapper Mac Miller and comedian Pete Davidson. Hence, many songs such as “imagine,” “ghostin,” “NASA,” “needy” and “break up with your girlfriend,
Ariana Grande teased the song on her Twitter account on January 25, 2019.
Listen to “fake smile” by Ariana Grande
Download “fake smile” song on iTunes and Amazon
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“fake smile” assures that Ariana Grande’s dislike to bend to the social norm that celebrities should be perfect. The song starts off with a popular sample of “After Laughter (Comes Tears)” by Wendy Rene from 1964.
In the lyrics, Ariana Grande breaks down the celebrity life. Party after party and you can’t even eat because you have to maintain your figure and social status. You cannot be seen as a ‘slob’ stuffing your mouth. She doesn’t even want to be at so many parties–it must be exhausting. But she has relationships to maintain and fans to satisfy. And this can be a very tedious charade to keep up for years and years.
In the pre-chorus, Ariana confesses that she is not as nearly as happy she should be. She has had massive success with “thank u, next” and “7 rings” singles off of this album. But the memories those songs bring would keep on haunting her.
In the second verse of “fake smile,” Ari talks about what the media does to her inner peace. She would be getting Tweets and messages about thousands of articles being published online and shown on TV about her. Most of them, she would be learning for herself for the first time. She says she has gotten used to most of this ‘controversial breaking news alerts,” but once in a while there is that one article that shell shocks her.
Ari also says that it is okay to show your emotions. It is not a sign of weakness, but rather a sign og maturity and a coping mechanism.
There are a lot of messages to receive from this song by Ariana Grande. What is your take away message from “fake smile”? Drop a comment below.
Complete Lyrics to “fake smile” by Ariana Grande