Music Review: Ariana Grande & Zedd "Break Free"

Ariana Grande & Zedd

Break Free

Album: My Everything

Year: 2014

           Ariana Grande decides to be on her own in the  confident “Break Free.”

          Sticking synths open the single, setting a needy tone.  With a box, she looks for her stuff in her boyfriend’s house. She finds some clothes and a DVD she left. Her boyfriend takes the DVD out of her hand, saying that it’s his. It is actually hers. She bought it when they went shopping one day. She throws her hands up and says “whatever.” She should’ve broken up with him a long time ago. But she really wanted it to work. She thought if she hung on for a little while longer she would feel something more than friendship for him. With every kiss he gave her, the guilt would tear her up inside. (“If you want it, take it/I should have said it before/Tried to hide it, fake it/I can't pretend anymore.”)

           In the pre-chorus, she says she wants to enjoy her life and regret spending years of life with someone she likes but doesn’t love. She has changed since they began going out. She became outgoing and starting make a lot of friends. He tells her that their relationship just meant nothing after all. She tries to tune him out as she packs her stuff, remembering that she is making the decision for herself and that it was a long time coming. (“I only want to die alive/Never by the hands of a broken heart/I don't wanna hear you lie tonight/Now that I've become who I really are.”)

         In the chorus, she explains to him again that she made her choice. She didn’t think they were right for reach other. She has gotten a glimpse that things can get better. She wants to view it as soon as she can again. (“This is the part when I say I don’t want it/I'm stronger than I've been before/This is the part when I break free/Cause I can't resist it no more/This is the part when I say I don’t want it/I'm stronger than I've been before/This is the part when I break free/Cause I can't resist it no more.”)

           She looked up to him at one time. He seemed really smart and put together. She let him charm her. After a year or so, she began questioning things he was saying to his friends and what was really going on. Something wasn’t adding up. However, she couldn’t let on she could see through him. It meant being miserable until she could figure a way out. (“You were better, deeper/I was under your spell/Like a deadly fever, I am, babe/On the highway to hell.”)

           The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

           In the bridge, she was physically attracted to him. She would see him and want to touch him all over. Whenever she would dream about him, he would talk to her about what was bothering him and remember to ask her about her day. In the morning, she would have to face reality, knowing that the sensitive side to him doesn’t exist. (“(No more, baby, oooh)/Thought on your body, I came alive/It was lethal, it was fatal/In my dreams it felt so right/But I woke up every time/Oh baby.”)

         The chorus is sung again.

         The explosive beat fires its rounds, ending the single.

       Grande’s gliding vocals enter dance diva mode, leaving behind any Mariah Carey comparisons that plagued her earlier singles. She has realized that love can’t be forced and it’s ok to admit that it the relationship failed.

       Zedd’s steady synth arrangement is kept in check.  The bustling blips and plastic synths are nowhere to be found. His lyrics are also in English. It may not be proper English (“Thought on your body”) but at least it’s understandable. It's a noticeable improvement from his last effort (“Find You.”)

          The good “Break Free” is quite literal for Grande  as she tries out a new genre, taking control of every beat.