Single Review: Ariana Grande - Hate That I Made You Love Me

So, Ariana Grande has released the first single from her album Petal and…girl. [Ties imaginary hair into an imaginary ponytail]

When the title of the song was released, I had an immediate feeling of ‘Oh, we’re doing this again’. Because everything about the song title came off like something from Eternal Sunshine. “Don’t Wanna Break Up Again”, “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” and most fittingly “I Wish I Hated You”. Then the song was released and, yup. It sounds like it’s from the world of Eternal Sunshine — which isn’t a completely bad thing. I liked that album despite its flaws. But after having Eternal Sunshine and its deluxe version Brighter Days Ahead, I was really ready for Ariana to move beyond it. And whilst her upcoming album may show that she has, this single isn’t indicative of that at all. Not completely.

Now, I have always commended Ariana Grande for the way in which she began to release albums post Sweetener. When she’s locked in, she’s locked in. And when she wants to put shit out, she puts it out — regardless of how little time may have passed since her last album. Ariana’s albums have become reflections of how she feels at given times. When she’s in love, we get an album. When she’s fallen out of love, we get an album. When she’s fallen in love again, we get an album. When she’s fallen out of love again, we get an album. And now Ariana has thoughts about people's ownership of her, so we’re getting an album.

Ariana’s albums are dumps of her feelings, with each release feeling like a purge of them. And I really do like that Ariana treats her art this way. Because this is kinda what’s missing from a lot of mainstream music right now. I think once upon a time Taylor Swift treated her albums the same way. But I think the Taylor Swift LL Capital-Capitalist-C at work is more evident with her albums now — which unfortunately affects the output and takes precedence over any artistic integrity. One would argue if the two can even coexist. But I think the downside of Ariana being so fast and loose with her feelings and therefore her albums is that they stopped feeling whole. But I’ll park this thought until her album Petal drops. Because maybe she will end this streak with it.

So, to jump back to the Eternal Sunshine of it all, “Hate That I Made You Love Me” sounds like an Eternal Sunshine song. It is “Yes, And?” lyrically, but with the sonics of “We Can’t Be Friends” and “True Story” and a title reminiscent of “I Wish I Hated You”. Ariana has a theme going and that’s great. But I do wish this song felt like we were entering a new phase of her artistry with her moving in a newer direction. Because it’s felt like Ariana has been drifting musically for quite some time.

Based on the title alone, I thought “Hate That I Made You Love Me” was about one of her exes. But, no bitch. It seems like the song is about her fans.

Ariana Grande - Hate That I Made You Love Me | Republic Records

Ariana has always had a sorta very parasocial relationship with her fans, which she has actively tried to put on ice by just…not talking to them. And I do not blame her one bit. Ariana came up at the tipping point of Twitter — when celebrities used to not only tweet bullshit like us, but also regularly interacted with their fans when it was still manageable for them to do so and there were fewer repercussions for them being out of pocket. Rihanna, girl. I am looking at you bitch. And Ariana was also one of those celebs. But as social media grew, Ariana’s career grew and her social media following grew — it all became too big of a beast to tame. And fans started to shift from being supportive, to feeling like they had ownership of Ariana and what she should and should not do. And not to say that it’s all Ariana’s fault. But instances such as releasing an album cover for Yours Truly, then fans saying ‘Bitch, it’s ugly. Change it.’ And Ariana changing it. And then a song leaking and fans saying ‘Bitch. We want a song like this on an album’. And Ariana putting a song like it on an album. Fans felt empowered, as though they were Kickstart backers to Ariana herself.

Ariana really struggled with the balance of speaking to her fans and letting them know that she sees them, whilst also setting boundaries. Stans just do not care about that shit. They just want what they want from their fave. But Wicked is when we saw a HUGE shift. The press tour saw everybody making comments about Ariana and Cynthia’s relationship and also their bodies. But this Wicked mess all started before the press tour and before the damn film was even shot. When Ariana had re-located to London to shoot Wicked, she was regularly seen out and about and on set, and fans constantly commented on her weight loss and her finally using her actual foundation shade instead of Anak Yai’s. This was the period of Ariana’s career where she had already begun to distance herself from speaking to her fans. But she broke this protocol to address the comments on her appearance, and I commend her for doing so. Because the way fans were acting and the things they felt comfortable saying in her comments was beyond crazy. And then there was the whole homewrecker allegations which came not long after this. It was real bad for Ariana.

But aside from this, Ariana has found herself in a situation where she has fractured her own fanbase. There are fans who really like when Ariana does R&B. There are fans who prefer when Ariana does pop. And then there are Ariana fans whose favourite songs are “Break Free” and “Into You” and just want those types of songs from her. So there is always discourse around fans wanting Ariana to go back to the sound and style of a certain album they have a preference for, and being very aggressive and downright nasty about it.

One thing that fans will always do is justify their hatred by saying that it’s out of love. And these same fans will turn around to people who give very respectful opinions about their faves’ and call them haters and then follow that with an insult and tell them they should kill themselves. I experience this regularly with certain stanbases. But that’s a whole other post. So, “Hate That I Made You Love Me” is Ariana’s rebuttal to ALL of this mess and people who claim they want what’s best for her, whilst being nasty about it and not accepting her as she is.

I really like the sentiment of this song. It’s very ballsy. But we know Ariana’s always been pretty ballsy. But to write a song about a raggedy fandom and release it as your lead single? Ariana really don’t give a fuck. She is TIRED.

Ariana Grande - Hate That I Made You Love Me | Republic Records

I really like that the sound of “Hate That I Made You Love Me” is so un-Summer-like for something releasing at the tailend of May. It’s sombre and depressing as hell. ‘It’s giving Winter’, ‘It’s giving October’, ‘It’s giving January’, ‘It’s giving depression’ as the kinds would probably say. The end of Spring / start of Summer really is such a weird time to release a song like this, but I like the audacity of it. And I think it would really cut through, if the song had just a bit more to it.

This woozy style of production and music is something Ariana’s been settling into ever since Sweetener. But she, Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh fully settled into it on Eternal Sunshine. I do like the sound, in moderation. But the problem I have with it, is that it forces Ariana to sing and write in a certain type of way, which has become her default now. So the energy of some of her songs is exactly the same, despite the things she singing about being very different between each song. And when you have several of these songs on an album together, they start to bleed into one and everything sounds kinda samey.

“Hate That I Made You Love Me” just sounds too damn pedestrian. And it’s really crazy that Max ‘The big hook, pop mathematician’ Martin was involved in this song and didn’t give notes and try to steer the song to a place where it punched more. And it doesn’t help that “Hate That I Made You Love Me” comes after Wicked, where we got to hear Ariana sing so differently to songs which were composed to really highlight the message and her voice.

I would have really liked it if “Hate That I Made You Love Me” had veered all the way into dream pop territory and really dialled up the rock, because the rock undertones are there in the song. I also think going this route with the sound would have helped with two things in particular. One. It would make the lyrics stand out so much more. Because the music kinda meanders and sounds too monotonous to a point where it struggles to hold my attention. Two. The song has a really weak bridge. And I think if the song had a more rock sound to help punctuate the melody and the delineation between verses, chorus and bridge, that it would have forced Ariana, Max and Ilya to make bridge to be stronger. Max. My dude. This shit used to be your jam. I don’t know what it is about Ariana Grande and also The Weeknd, which has resulted in so many of his songs sounding so flat and void of levels, highs and lows. And speaking of The Weeknd, it wouldn’t surprise me if “Hate That I Made You Love Me” ended up with a remix which features him, because it sounds very much like the kinda song Ariana and Abel would do together. And I think having another voice on the song going back and forth with Ariana and Abel’s wailing would would actually help give the song more energy and texture. Also, I’m sure he has things to say about how people dragged his album Hurry Up Tomorrow and its accompanying film which earned itself a rotten tomato.

Ariana Grande - Hate That I Made You Love Me | Republic Records

In my review of Eternal Sunshine, I had mentioned that Ariana Grande needs to stop using Max Martin and Ilya Salzemedah to produce all of her music, especially when she has songs which have a sound that other producers could do better. And I feel the same way about this song. Dev Hynes would have done a much better job of nailing the vibe of this song than Max and Ilya did, because he’s done it so many times before. It’s his thing. He knows it. And he gets it. And he does it really fucking well. And Dev Hynes would be such a great pairing with Ariana. Her A&R needs to start stepping in. Because Max and Ilya are tired, and so am I.

There is a good song here. But the problem with it is one that I feel has plagued Ariana’s music since Sweetener, which is that it feels underdeveloped. It needed another writer to come in and help better build out the bridge. It needed Max to actually clock in and make the song pop. And I think vocally there is so much more that Ariana could have done to have given the song more breadth — and I don’t mean singing bigger. But doing more in the way of her arrangements and layering to elevate the song in a way that only she could. And if she wasn’t in the mood to do much, then she should’ve brought in a choir for the climax. I think dream pop as a vibe for Ariana is one that makes sense, but only if she really plays around with her vocal arrangements to add a twist to it. Because I think her R&B approach to layering paired with the sonics of dream pop could be really special. But she needs to try and pull herself out of this creative funk that she’s in where she puts out songs which give her a strong point of view lyrically, but not musically. And Max Martin has been in this game too long and knows music too damn well to not be better shaping these songs and giving them what they need to be better.

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💿 Ariana album reviews: Yours Truly | My Everything | Sweetener | Positions | Eternal Sunshine | Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead

🎛️ Random J Ariana Grande mixes: Blazed | Yes, And?

🎛️ Random J Ariana Grande mashups: Ariana Grande x Lady Gaga | Miki Matsubara x Ariana Grande | Crystal Kay x Miki Matsubara x Ariana Grande