![Walking through the tunnel created by the cheerleaders and Celebrities, senior Frances Tran smiles as the soccer team is sent off during DEN for their playoff game against Rouse tonight. Tran said the wins against Smithson Valley and Alamo Heights gave the team a morale boost to take on the Raiders tonight. “I know we were not 100% confident in those games,” Tran said. “But, Rouse is a big opponent for sure. We’re definitely going into tonight with a lot of morale [because of the previous wins].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/frances-tran.jpg)
![Holding a bucket of materials in one hand and a roll of tape in another, anatomy and biology teacher Tyler Terry prepares for a lab. Terry said his proudest moments are when his students are happy to see him. “When I take my wife to a football game or something and a bunch of students want to say hi to me or they like to smile and wave and it just makes me feel good that the students are really kind and supportive of me,” Terry said. “[I’m also] proud when I see students perform really well in their extracurriculars because I can see how hard they’re working in my classes, [so] when I see that they’re also working so hard in other things. Like they’re winning band competitions or they’re getting awards for their theater productions, or I see them put on their choir shows, that’s like, wow, you guys are incredible.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Rags-6.png)
![Catching a ball, junior Alivia Robinson plays at the Cedar Park vs Glenn game. Having played since she was 5 years old, she is dedicated to softball and has committed to UTPB for softball. “When I got my offer it took me a very long time to decide where,” Robinson said. “Softball has always been my dream for college, and UTPB is my fit. When [I committed] I knew I was going to be loved and supported.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Lilly-Adams-3.13aliviaedit-901.jpg)
As an Ariana Grande fan for many years, I have always kept up with and followed her music. After she announced her new album, “eternal sunshine” in January, I knew that I was going to be listening to that album nonstop. Even now, as the album has been out for weeks already, I have not been able to stop listening to it.
On Jan. 12, Grande released the single for this album titled “yes, and?” and it definitely received some feedback from listeners. I had seen a lot of negative reviews about it on TikTok about how the intro to the song was too long, how the message of it wasn’t good and also about the production overall not being so great. Instead of these reviews turning me away from this album, I was instantly curious as to what the album was going to sound like, and was impatiently waiting for it to come out.
On Mar. 8, “eternal sunshine” was released and I had honestly forgotten all about it. On the day that it was released, I kept putting off listening to it because I was a little nervous about it. I really didn’t want a bad album because Grande has never disappointed me. But I finally sat down to listen to it over that weekend, and instantly regretted having not listened to it as soon as it came out.
The album begins with the track “intro (end of the world)” that totally swept me off of my feet. I felt as if it really set the mood for how the rest of the album was going to sound, and it completely dispelled my nervousness. The track has this melodic almost angelic sound to it, and adding Grande’s vocals made me not only impressed but also so excited to listen to the rest of the album.
Jumping ahead to her fourth track in the album is the “saturn returns interlude.” This interlude was sampled from astrologer Diana Garland, who was describing the Saturn Returns period of a person’s life, when Saturn is in the same position as when the person was born, causing them to go through changes and transitions in their life. I think that this is such a powerful thing to have in an album because it alludes to the changes that Grande was going through in her own life. The instrumental over Garland’s descriptions, the way that the audio echoes around itself and the constant repetition of “wake up” gives me full-body chills. Another aspect of this interlude that I love is the way that it fades into the next track, “eternal sunshine,” because it’s such a satisfying thing to listen to.
The tenth track in this album is “we can’t be friends” which came along with a music video. I not only love the song, but I think that the music video is perfect too. Grande’s album was inspired by the movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” and the idea of wiping away painful memories. The music video goes through that process of her opting to get her memories taken away, and actually forgetting the memories of that lover. I thought that this was such a clever move to do for this music video because of the idea of the song being about waiting for love, and the music video being about forgetting that love. I also love how she took that inspiration from the movie, and applied it to her own music.
The last track in this album is “ordinary things” and it features Nonna, Grande’s grandmother. I love this song because I think that it not only has a nice sound to it, but it also just feels like the perfect way to end this album, especially with her grandma giving advice at the end. Not only does this song sound good, but it has broken records. Grande’s grandmother is now the oldest person to debut on the Hot 100 chart. I also think that it’s such a sweet thing to feature on an album because it really shows how much Grande loves and appreciates her grandmother.
The most underrated tracks of this album in my opinion are “supernatural,” “true story” and “imperfect for you.” I feel like all of these songs are not only so catchy, but also really showcase Grande’s amazing vocals. I also think that the lyrics in all of these songs are so profound and complex, and I feel like they add so much to the rest of the album.
Overall, I absolutely love this album. I went into it thinking that it was going to be disappointing, and came out not being able to stop listening to the album. I think that everything about it is so addicting and enjoyable to listen to.
I give this album 9/10 stars.
