Ariana Grande’s new album Petal is “a little feral”.
The 32-year-old pop star has announced plans to release Petal, her eagerly awaited eighth studio album, in July, and Ariana has now teased details of her new record revealing it comes from a place she has been “too shy or polite to tap into before” and it about tackling the “monsters” in her head.
In a video posted on Instagram, Ariana explains Petal’s concept, saying: “Surprise! It’s called Petal. It’s basically about something that is full of life and growing through the cracks of something cold and hard and challenging.
“It’s kind of about breaking up with all different kinds of negative attachments, whether it’s my own monsters in my own head, external voices, things that no longer serve me.
“It was a writing experiment for me to use that as a template so that I could be talking about one thing and sharing something, and people could use it however they want and apply it to their own lives.”
She went on to add: ““It’s a little feral as well. It’s definitely from a place where I have been maybe too shy or polite to tap into before and this kind of just feels like, f*** it.”
Ariana released her last album, Eternal Sunshine, in March 2024, and the record featured a number of hit singles, including We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love), Yes, And?, and The Boy Is Mine.
Eternal Sunshine debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and became the longest-running number one album of her career.
However, in recent years, Ariana has largely focused her attention on her acting career, playing Glinda in the money-spinning Wicked film franchise.
She is now making a big return to music, kicking off her Eternal Sunshine Tour in Oakland, California on June 6 before releasing Petal on July 31.
In a conversation with Interview magazine last year, Ariana explained acting in the Wicked movies has helped her heal her relationship with both music and touring.
She told the publication: “I’ve just been taking baby steps towards healing my relationship to music and touring, and I think my time with Glinda and with acting really helped me build the strength to be able to do that …
“I think it just held some traumas for me before, and I feel those dissipating, and that is such an extraordinarily beautiful thing.”