Sweetener by Ariana Grande

I've heard of Ariana Grande but never listened to her so this was my first listen. She has a problem. She is not a strong vocalist. A good pop vocalist but not a strong R&B singer and so she has to be a bit more picky about what she puts on her album. This is not a knock on her talent. No one ever talked about Madonna the great vocalist, but Madonna knew how to pick the songs that played to her strengths. If you limit this album to the songs where Grande was involved in the writing I think you get a pretty strong album because these are the songs that play to her voice better than the rest. That would look like this based on the information available at allmusic.com.

1. The Light Is Coming
2. God is a Woman
3. Sweetener
4. Everytime
5. Breathin
6. No Tears Left to Cry
7. Goodnight N Go

Problem is this is a 15 track album. Dropping out the two very short tracks you're looking at 6 songs that just aren't very good. Pharrell Williams is the source of most of these tracks.  Of course the video I've linked to here has over 500 million views so I guess she's doing OK for herself.  Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 2 out of 5 stars for Not Bad.