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Steven J. Horowitz
Senior Music Writer
speriod See All
Courtesy of Republic Ariana Grande has officially kicked off her “Petal” era with the release of the project’s first single “Hate That I Made You Love Me.”
The mid-tempo song is certainly in a breakup mold, with Grande singing in a subdued tone over a sauntering instrumental. “Hate that I made you love me / Sorry if I made me your type / I hate that I made you love me / ‘Cause I barely tried,” she sings. “I felt your projections when you felt so insecure / Tell me why is it this way, why you so hate to see women endure / Is it really my fault you all gave me your hearts on your own accord / I don’t really think so.”
Grande is currently gearing up for her eighth studio album “Petal,” releasing on July 31 via Republic Records. The project was executive produced and co-written by Grande and Ilya, who had previously worked with the singer as far back as her “Dangerous Woman” album in 2016 and has crafted songs with Taylor Swift, Sam Smith and Beyoncé. She announced “Petal” in late April, describing the album as “something that is full of life and growing through the cracks of something cold and hard and challenging.”
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Earlier this month, she announced “Hate That I Made You Love Me,” describing it as “one of my favorite songs that I’ll ever write.” She produced the track with Ilya and Max Martin, with whom she made her 2024 album Eternal Sunshine.” Its music video, co-starring Justin Long, is scheduled for release on Monday at 8 a.m. PT, and is directed by Christian Breslauer with Janusz Kaminski as director of photography.
Grande will release “Petal” amid her upcoming “Eternal Sunshine” tour that kicks off on June 6 at Oakland’s Oakland Arena. Though it was initially pegged to her seventh album and its deluxe edition “Brighter Days Ahead,” it’s likely that Grande will incorporate new music at some point during the trek, which wraps in September at London’s O2 Arena.
She also noted that the tour could be her last “for a long time.” “The last 10 or 15 years will look very different to the ones that are coming up,” she said in an interview last year on Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang” podcast. “I don’t want to say anything definitive. I do know that I’m very excited to do this small tour, but I think it might not happen again for a long, long, long, long, long time. I’m going to give it my all and it’s going to be beautiful. I think that’s why I’m doing it because I’m like, ‘One last hurrah!'”
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