Music Review: Ariana Grande & Mac Miller "The Way"

Ariana Grande & Mac Miller

The Way

Album: Daydreamin’

Year: 2013

               Ariana Grande can’t stop smiling or talking about her new boyfriend in the wannabe “The Way.”

                  Mac Miller says they are going  retro as a boastful synth plays a sample of Big Pun & Fat Joe’s “Still Not A Player,” setting a rehashed tone.  (“What we gotta do right here is go back, back to the top..”)

                 Grande begins with the chorus. When she sees him at school, she grins wide and jumps into his arms. She kisses him and then giggles. He makes her forget about the exam she quiz she might’ve failed and what people would say if she spoke up in class. (“I love the way you make me feel/I love it, I love it/I love the way you make me feel/I love it, I love it.”)

            While his math teacher is explaining a formula on the board, he is staring off, reliving the moment when she saw before class. At night, he’s been turning on the radio in the shower and singing along with the love songs. He thinks of how long he should wait until he says “I love you.” Maybe next week? When he walks the hall, he sees his ex-girlfriends narrow their eyes at them. However, he smirks at them. She’s different from them. (“Say, I’m thinking ’bout her every second, every hour/Do my singing in the shower/
Picking petals off the flowers like//Do she love me, do she love me not? (love me not)/I ain’t a player, I just crush a lot (crush a lot.)”

         Even though she sees him at school all day, she has to call him once she gets home. She tries to remember jokes to make him laugh. She stays on the phone with him for about two hours. Once she’s in bed, she stays awake for another hour thinking of her day with him. (“You give me that kind of something
Want it all the time, need it everyday/On a scale of one to ten I'm at a hundred/Never get enough, I can’t stay away.”)

         In the pre-chorus, she will make herself available to him. If he wants to come over, she’ll make up something to tell her parents and leave. She will be his best friend. Out of the guys she’s dated, he’s been the nicest to her.  He doesn’t have to worry about her cheating. He has a reputation around school. Her friends have become distant towards her because of the rumors and don’t want to get involved. However, there is a sweet side no one else notices. She loves him and she doesn’t care what people say to her or about her.  (“If you want it, I got it, I got it everyday/You can get whatever you need from me/Stay by your side, I’ll never leave you/And I ain’t going nowhere 'cause you’re a keeper/So don’t you worry, baby, you got me/I got a bad boy, I must admit it/You got my heart, don’t know how you did it/And I don’t care who sees it babe/I don’t wanna hide the way I feel when you're next to me.”)


        The chorus is sung again.

 Between classes, he gives her a kiss and she gets chills. In class, when she’s supposed to be taking notes, she draws a heart and puts their initials in them. She wonders what there children will look like and who they will have at their wedding. (“Oh, it's so crazy you get my heart jumping/When you put your lips on mine/And honey it ain’t a question (q-question)/'Cause boy I know just what you like.”)

      The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

     Miller loves to hear compliments from her. She has a wild side to her, which attracted him to her. He didn’t think of dating her at first. He thought she was too proper. However, she’s the one who initates things. He’s thinking of having a sleepover with her at his house. His parents won’t be home and they can do whatever they want. He’ll rent a movie and puts his around her on the couch.  She’s got a lot of energy and keeps on him on his toes. He plans to stay with her for a while.  (“Uh, I make you feel so fine, I make you feel so fine/I hope you hit me on my celly when I sneak in your mind/You’re a princess to the public, but a freak when it’s time/Said your bed be feeling lonely/So you’re sleeping in mine/Come here, watch a movie with me,/“American Beauty” or “Bruce Almighty” that's groovy/Just come and move closer to me/
I got some feelings for you/I’m not gonna get bored of/But baby you’re an adventure/So please let me come explore you.”)

        Part of the pre-chorus is sung again. (“So don’t you worry, baby you got me/I got a bad boy, I must admit it…I don’t wanna hide the way I feel when you're next to me.”)

        The chorus is sung three times to end the single.  

Grande’s  fine, budding  vocals flutter around, mimicking the experienced ones around her.

She has the potential to becoming  a pop star. However, she’s emulating Mariah Carey during her decline. In turn, it drags her down, inviting the same criticism Carey now receives.

Miller ‘s  toady, stammering vocals  cop a feel and smirk.  His outdated references to the movies American Beauty and Bruce Almighty  are a transparent as his ways to get a girl to make out with him.

The  slapdash “The Way” puts together a  rickety recreation of 90s R&B with a noticeable hook taken from someone else dangling over the edge and a magazine cutout of its fading icon right in the center, bumpy from too much glue.