Ariana Grande’s “God is a woman” Song Review

Hello, I’m MusiCommentator, and no, I did not forget to capitalize the first letters in the song title.  That’s just how it’s spelled.  It’s an “artistic” thing, I guess.

So, let’s talk about Ariana Grande.  She’s been around for a while, as she became famous for her roles on Nickelodeon’s “Victorious” and “Sam & Cat”.  It’s almost hard to think that she used to be in those shows because her persona is so far removed from them at this point.  I mean, she nailed the transition from being an icon for little kids to becoming a mature artist.  We’ve seen others try and fail at it before (*ahem* Miley Cyrus *ahem*),so I’d argue that Ariana did it the best, as the mainstream acts like those shows don’t even exist.  It’s kind of incredible if you think about it.

Needless to say, her music career has been flourishing.  However, I’m not really a fan of her music (please don’t shoot me).  I’ve just found her to make pretty bland pop music.  Some of her stuff is okay, like “Bang Bang” and “Problem”, but a lot of it can feel like moody dreck, such as “Dangerous Woman” and “Everyday”.  It’s really nothing that interests me.  “no tears left to cry”, though, is a song I thought was decent, if not good, so I have some hope for this track.  Let’s see if “God is a woman” is good or not.

I think I should talk about the beat first, since that is what first stuck out to me.  I really didn’t like how it sounded in the first chorus, because it was very similar to the sulky instrumentals used in her songs like “Dangerous Woman” and “Into You”, which, as I said, are not the kinds of songs I like from her.  I was really taken aback, though, when the trap beat came in.  It has pretty good energy to it, and Ariana’s voice works well over it, so I like the beat on here a lot.  Of course, when it comes to trap beats, it’s not one of the best I’ve heard.  It’s pretty generic, but it has a good amount of energy to make this song enjoyable.  But, let’s get into the lyric.

“You, you love it how I move you
You love it how I touch you
My one, when all is said and done
You’ll believe God is a woman”

I like the concept of this chorus a lot.  I ripped on Selena Gomez way back on my “Fetish” song review for being too narcissistic in her lyrics.  I like the narcissism displayed in this Ariana song, though, so it sounds contradictory for me to say I like this chorus.  However, I think it’s the way it’s portrayed that makes the difference.  On Gomez’s song, one of the main lines was something along the lines of “I see why you want to be with me when I look in the mirror”.  On there, it seems awkward and almost weird because it sounds like she is sexually pleased by herself.  On Grande’s song, though, the narcissism is based on someone else’s emotions.  She says that she is great by making someone else say she’s great (in a “naughty” kind of way, if you get what I’m saying).  It makes her seem less self-centered and more deserving of the praises she is giving herself, and the arrogance she displays it with almost gives the listener the same kind of confidence.

“I don’t wanna waste no time, yeah
You ain’t got a one-track mind, yeah
Have it any way you like, yeah”

He doesn’t have a one-track mind?  Well, this song is all about…uh…doing it, and since the man in this song is doing nothing but…”it”, then wouldn’t his mind be one track?  Maybe I’m just missing something in this line.

“And I can tell that you know I know how I want it”

There has to be a less contrived way to say that.

“Baby, lay me down and let’s pray”

Okay, I like this line because a popular thing to say during the act this song is talking about is usually “Oh, God” or something similar.  So, saying that they’re praying when they “lay down” makes this line a very clever euphemism.

I could keep showing the rest of the lyrics of this song, but I have pretty much covered all the bases I wanted to already, as this track stays thematically constant throughout.  I guess I could the song props for that.

Overall, this isn’t a bad track.  In fact, it’s a pretty good track.  It takes the common sexual themes of pop music and gives it a darker feel.  We live in a pretty dark music landscape, but a lot of pop still stays bright and cheery.  I commend Ariana, a generally cookie-cutter popstar, for not following that formula.  I mentioned how I like the trap sections of the beat, and Ariana’s voice is pretty good on this, too.  She doesn’t experiment with different vocal styles like on “no tears left to cry”, but she lands many impressive high notes.  I’d give this song a 3.5 out of 5.  Do you agree?

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