Ariana Grande Plays It Too Safe on "hate that i made you love me"

Ariana Grande has released “hate that i made you love me” as the first single from an upcoming album. The song uses a notably low-key approach, with Grande singing largely in her lower register and avoiding key changes or musical detours. Production by Ilya Salmanzadeh and Max Martin creates a lush, roomy sound with a dream-pop feel reminiscent of the Thank U, Next era. Grande delivers evocative lines about being studied, borrowed, warmed by the sun, then turning cold like the wind. The message frames the situation as not her fault that the person fell deeply for her, but the perspective is seen as less compelling than her more dramatic prior singles.

"Often, new Ariana Grande singles arrive as statement pieces. Think the brash saxophones in “Problem,” the sexy strut of “Dangerous Woman,” the seismic revelations in both “No Tears Left to Cry” and “Thank U, Next.” On “hate that i made you love me,” however, Grande has opted for a notably low key style, leaving the belts, the diva-pop vocal theatrics, and the dancefloor fodder at home."

"Get Ariana Grande Tickets Here Grande sings much of the song in her lower register, resisting any key changes or musical detours that could threaten her state of cool. The production, courtesy of Swedish pop heroes Ilya Salmanzadeh and Max Martin, is lush and roomy, not unlike the powdery dream pop touched upon in her Thank U, Next era (and, to a lesser extent, Sweetener). It sounds lovely, and Grande does provide some evocative passages."

"“You studied my crown and borrowed my body/ Warm, kissed by the sun/ then cold like the wind/ a bee stuck in honey,” she sings in the second verse. The overall message about how it's not her fault (and a bummer) that this guy went head over heels for her, though, is maybe not the most riveting perspective for a new Ariana Grande song."

"Unlike the aforementioned statement singles, “i hate that i made you love me” doesn't tell us quite enough about what's really going through Grande's head; it more or less picks up where her last relationship-centered album, eternal sunshine, left off, which had a few songs that fit this exact formula. Not quite the sister track to “we can't be friends (wait for your love),” not quite the clapback found in “yes, and?”... “hate that i made you love me” may be breezy, but it's not a particularly eventful return from Grande."

Read at Consequence