User:Music01/sandbox

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.7/10
Metacritic	80/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Consequence of Sound	A–
Evening Standard
Exclaim!	8/10
The Guardian
The Independent
NME
Pitchfork	7.9/10
PopMatters	8/10
Rolling Stone

After Hours was met with widely positive reviews. At Metacritic, the album received an average score of 80, based on 20 reviews. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.7 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. Album of the Year assessed the critical consensus as 80 out of 100, based on 18 reviews.

Writing for Consequence of Sound, Candace McDuffie acclaimed the album, stating that "As he evolves, he continues to reinvent himself, and he knows exactly how to leave fans hooked on havoc. And After Hours is proof that he's not done with us yet; in fact, he's just getting started." Exclaim!'s reviewer Jacob Carey stated in his review that "After Hours does feel like the Weeknd's very own version of Vegas – a place where overindulgence, self-loathing and promiscuity are not only welcomed, but encouraged." The Guardian's critic Michael Cragg gave After Hours a positive review, praising the "sense of narrative cohesion" on the album, saying that "songs bleed into each other, with sonic references dotted throughout to neaten up threads that previously he [The Weeknd] would have left to unravel. By balancing the two sides of his musical personality – not to mention add some levity to that boring, bad-taste id – After Hours feels like the first Weeknd album in a while to offer up a clear, singular vision rather than something frustratingly abstract." Writing for The Independent, Roisin O'Connor stated that "After Hours abandons the danceability of its predecessor in favour of moody introspection. This is the music you listen to when the party's over." O'Connor further compared the album to The Weeknd's previous releases, saying that he on After Hours "still delves into a sadboy persona but there's a tinge of remorse that runs through, in comparison to the cold and often cruel tone of earlier cuts." Luke Morgan Britton of NME called After Hours "The Weeknd's strongest record in some time" and that "It's a record free of features and full of probing self-reflection."

Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone gave the album a positive review, stating that "After Hours certainly has its share of pity-partying. But there's also a vulnerability that goes beyond the usual too-beautiful-for-the-world sulking." Dolan also said that the album "hits the best balance yet of the gloomy melodrama of the Weeknd's early EPs or his 2018 release My Dear Melancholy and the pop slickness of his 2016 LP Starboy." Writing for Variety, Jem Aswad praised the album, stating that "The Weeknd is launching the next era with his most fully realized album yet, 'After Hours.' Sonically, the hallmarks are ultra-cinematic keyboards, pulsating sub-bass, hard beats (which are seldom danceable), '80s synthesizer flourishes and caverns of echo, all of which contrast with his high, angelic voice." Aswad ended his review by saying that "After Hours is one of the most successful musicians of the past decade testing the balance between innovation and commerciality as much as anyone today." David Smyth of Evening Standard particularly praised the song "Blinding Lights", while stating that The Weeknd's "in a bit of a fug" on the rest of the album.

Year-end lists

Year-end lists

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
Afisha Daily (Russia)	The Best Foreign Albums of 2020	1
AllMusic	Best of 2020	—
Apple	The 100 Best Albums of 2020	1
Associated Press	AP's Top Albums of 2020	2
The Atlantic	The 18 Best Albums of 2020	9
The A.V. Club	The 20 Best Albums of 2020	18
BBC	Top 10 Albums of 2020	10
Billboard	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	2
	The 10 Best R&B Albums of 2020: Critic's Picks	1
Clash	Clash Albums of the Year 2020	8
Complex	The Best Albums of 2020	1
Consequence of Sound	Top 50 Albums of 2020	5
Dazed	The 20 Best Albums of 2020	14
The Economist	The Best Albums of 2020	—
Entertainment Weekly	The Best Albums of 2020	32
Esquire	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	19
Exclaim!	Exclaim!'s Top 10 Best Soul and R&B Albums of 2020	1
Flavorwire	The Best Albums of 2020	9
GQ (Russia)	The 20 Best Albums of 2020	—
GQ (US)	GQ's Staff 21 Favorite Albums of 2020	1
The Guardian	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	24
The Independent	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	31
Los Angeles Times	Best Albums and Songs of 2020	2
Mojo	Top 50 Albums of 2020	27
The New York Times	Best Albums of 2020 (Jon Pareles)	3
	Best Albums of 2020 (Jon Caramanica)	2
NME	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	12
Noisey	Albums of the Year 2020	7
Now	The 10 best albums of 2020	9
	The best Toronto albums of 2020	1
NPR	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	43
Paper	Top 20 Albums of 2020	17
Paste	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	13
People	The 10 Best Albums of 2020	10
Pitchfork	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	26
PopMatters	The 70 Best Albums of 2020	8
Rolling Stone	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	2
	20 Best R&B Albums of 2020	1
	Rob Sheffield's Top 25 Albums of 2020	2
Slate	The Best Albums of 2019	—
Slant Magazine	The 25 Best Albums of 2020	15
Spin	The 51 Best Albums of 2020	22
Sputnikmusic	Top 50 Albums of 2020	7
Stereogum	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	14
Time	The 10 Best Albums of 2020	9
The Times	The Top 100 Best Records of the Year	44
Uncut	The 75 Best Albums of 2020	57
Uproxx	The Best Albums of 2020	2
USA Today	10 Best Albums of 2020	10
Variety	The Best Albums of 2020	1
Vulture	15 Best Albums of 2020	4

Industry awards

At the 63nd Annual Grammy Awards in January 2021, The Weeknd won all of his eight nominations, placing him alongside Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones as the artist with the most wins in a single night, and became the very first Black artist to win the main categories: he won Album of the Year, as well his third Best Urban Contemporary Album for After Hours, Record and Song of the Year — as well Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Music Video — for "Blinding Lights", completing his sweep with "Heartless" winning the Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance trophies. Furthermore, After Hours won Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and Illangelo won Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, totalling ten wins for the album.

Awards for Beauty Behind the Madness

Year	Ceremony	Category	Result	Ref.
2020	American Music Awards	Favorite Pop/Rock Album	Nominated
		Favorite Soul/R&B Album	Won
	Apple Music Awards	Album of the Year	Won
	Danish Music Awards	Foreign Album of the Year	Won
	GAFFA Awards (Denmark)	Best Foreign Album	Won
	GAFFA Awards (Norway)	Best Foreign Album	Won
	GAFFA Awards (Sweden)	Best Foreign Album	Won
	LOS40 Music Awards	Best International Album	Nominated
	Polaris Music Prize		Shortlisted
	Soul Train Music Awards	Album of the Year	Won
2021	Grammy Awards	Album of the Year	Won
		Best Urban Contemporary Album	Won
		Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical	Won
	BET Awards	Album of the Year	Won
	Billboard Music Awards	Top Billboard 200 Album	Won
		Top R&B Album	Won
		Top Selling Album	Won
	iHeartRadio Music Awards	Album of the Year	Nominated
	Juno Awards	Album of the Year	Won
		R&B/Soul Recording of the Year	Won
	NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Album	Won
	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Album	Nominated

Background

Ariana Grande released her third studio album Dangerous Woman in May 2016, to positive reviews and commercial success; it debuted atop the records charts in Australia and United Kingdom and earned a nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 59th Grammy Awards. Four singles were released from the album, with the title track and "Side to Side" having more proemincence: the first was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance at the Grammy Awards and reached number eight on Billboard Hot 100, while the second had the best commercial performance of the four singles, reaching number four on the aforementioned chart and entering top 10 in various countries.

In November 2016, Grande revealed through Snapchat that she had begun working on her fourth studio album, stating: "I didn't mean to make an album, and I don't know if it's done at all, but I just have a bunch of songs that I really really like. I've been working a lot and have been creating and feeling inspired." Pharrell Williams confirmed that he was working with Grande in the album, describing it as "amazing" and telling Los Angeles Times "[t]he things that [Ariana] has to say on this album, it's pretty next-level." Producers Max Martin and Savan Kotecha were later confirmed to have collaborated with Grande in the album, and her manager Scooter Braun stated to Variety that the record would have a more mature sound: "She has such an extraordinary voice and it’s time for her to sing the songs that define her. Whitney, Mariah, Adele — when they sing, that’s their song. Ariana has big vocal moments; it’s time for her song."

Recording sessions for the album started on July 2016 with Pharrell, while Grande was still promoting her previous album. She started the recording without any imposed dates — a freedom she enjoyed — and wanted to experiment with new musical directions, suggesting him to take her to "somewhere completely new" and "make the weirdest thing we can first". Grande also had more creative and musical freedom in the development of the album, serving as executive producer with her manager and coordinating the sessions so that the songs would convey her feelings and would sound authentic. In an interview with Time, she commented: "I was just so excited about singing [on previous albums]. So I co-wrote, but I was never as involved".

Recording and production

"Sweetener" was the first song to be written and recorded for the album; it also titled the record and helped to define its theme and music. Pharrell served as the main producer of the album, collaborating on other six tracks and featuring on the track "Blazed". He told Grande it was time to show her fans what she was really feeling, describing his work as "part listener, part therapist, part stenographer". "The Light Is Coming" was specially conceived to be a track featuring another artist; unsatisfied after testing eight rappers, Grande texted Nicki Minaj to work on the song, who answered by inviting the singer to hear her verses. "That's what Nicki Minaj does, she elevates a record. If you're going to have a rapper on a song, they need to really really really be there for a reason, and she does that every single time", Grande said. "R.E.M" was originally written and produced by Pharrell for Beyoncé, who recorded it under the title "Wake Up" for her fifth and eponymous album and scrapped it; the song was re-recorded by Grande with new lyrics and vocal arrangements. "Borderline" features Missy Elliott, who Grande always wanted to collaborate with since she was young, dancing to her songs and watching her videos.

On May 22, 2017, a terrorist attack took place after Grande's concert at Manchester Arena; the event put the sessins on hold and made the singer reluctant to record new music, preferring to spend time with her loved ones because of the emotional impact. Having experienced anxiety attacks before, Grande was psychologically shaken with the bombing and "had really wild dizzy spells, this feeling like [I] couldn't breathe". She shared it with Williams and together they wrote "Get Well Soon", which is "probably one of the most important songs [she ever wrote]" and helped her to deal with the trauma of the attack. Pharrell said the attack in Manchester "was when different people from the record company actually started to understand what we were trying to do", while Grande stated: "I felt more inclined to tap into my feelings because I was spending more time with them. I was talking about them more. I was in therapy more".

After finishing her work with Pharrell, Grande contacted two long-time collaborators for Sweetener: Swedish producers Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh, as well songwriter Savan Kotecha, making five songs with them. "No Tears Left to Cry", the first to be written with this team, was inspired by the trauma of the attack. The singer idealized a song that would start as a ballad and then become uptempo, wanting it to be more obscure and unexpected. Similar to "Get Well Soon", main inspiration for "Breathin" surged after Grande suffered of panic and anxiety attacks. "God Is a Woman" was originally conceived by Kotecha, who created concepts for the chorus, the title and the melody and developed it with Ilya, intending it would be recorded by a rapper with a featured singer, with Camila Cabello recording a demo tape for it. Next, Ilya decided to send the demo to Grande, intending she would be the fetured guest, but she became interessed with the track and kept it, writing new lyrics from a female point of view.

Originally, the album would be made up of ten songs, but Grande eventually re-added five songs that would be scrapped, being three of the sessions with Pharrell, one with Martin and one with long-time producer Tommy Brown. She considered the tracks were "too emotionally honest" and would make her fans worried, but she decided to relocate them after some of the fears she was writing about came true. The first was "Better Off", as explained to The Zach Sang Show: "I wasn't going to put it on the album because I didn’t think I’d be where I am in life now. It was almost too honest about what I was afraid of happening, and then life changed and things happened and I was like, ‘You know what? That’s a really beautiful record and it’s something that is honest."

Overall, recording sessions for Sweetener took place between July 2016 and May 2018 at several studios: Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California; Jungle City and Germano Studios in New York City, New York; Chalice Recording, Conway Recording and East West Studios in Hollywood, California; MXM Studios and The Lunchtable in Los Angeles, California; Midnight Blue and South Beach Studios in Miami, Florida]]; and District 4-12 in Northridge, California, all of them in the United States, besides MXM and Wolf Cousins Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. Audio mixing was done by Ilya, Phil Tan, Manny Marroquin and Serban Ghenea, tooking place at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia, while mastering was done by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound in New York City.

Themes and influences

Grande described Sweetener as a "definitely more personal" album in comparison to its predecessors and a more mature version of Dangerous Woman, also noting that Dangerous Woman was more mature than My Everything, and the latter more mature than her debut album Yours Truly. Explaining its title to British Vogue, she summarized that its composition "sounds so youthful and unassuming at first, but when you listen to the music you understand what it's really about." It is made up of fifteen tracks, ten of which were co-written by Grande; regarding its production, seven songs were made by Pharrell Williams, five by Ilya — two of which were produced alongside Max Martin — and three by Tommy Brown, also featuring productions of Hit-Boy, Brian Malik Baptiste, Charles Anderson and Michael Foster. Instrumentation include guitars, strings, bass, drums, keyboards and percussion.

"I've always just been like a shiny, singing, 5-6-7-8, sexy-dance... sexy thing. But now it’s like, 'OK... issa [sic] bop — but issa message. Issa bop but also has chunks of my soul in it. Here you go. Also, I cried 10 hundred times in the session writing it for you. Here is my bleeding heart, and here is a trap beat behind it.' There’s definitely some crying-on-the-dancefloor stuff on this one."

—Grande on the lyric and music evolution of Sweetener compared to her previous albums

Musically, Sweetener consist mainly of pop, R&B and trap songs, funding elements of house, funk, soul and hip hop music on its beats and productions. The album also explored a variety of other styles, such as tropical house, EDM and synthpop, also containing minimalist urban influences. Elias Leight, from Rolling Stone, noted trap influence on at least five tracks and pointed out Grande was of the recent female pop singers to experiment with trap music on its discography, exemplifying Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson and Demi Lovato, while Allmusic's Sephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that the record " deepens the R&B inclinations" of Dangerous Woman. Various melodies and harmonies shape the album's music structure, including uptempo songs and downtempo sentimental ballads.

Sweetener also represents a change in Grande's vocal style adopted on her songs; she commented to The Zach Sang Show that "the thing that I love most about this project sonically, is that all I really did was sing in my sweet lower register." The vocal styles used on the album include singing, rap, harmonies and spoken word, as well as different ranges and keys. "God Is a Woman", "No Tears Left to Cry" and "Get Well Soon" feature excerpts where various voices are heard repeatedly in dense layers, sounding like a choir, but it actually is Grande's vocals united and multiplied, something she described as "like I'm talking to all of my thoughts in my head and they're singing back to me." Background vocals are provided by the singer on all tracks, as well by Ilya on "God Is a Woman" and "Breathin". Three special guests are included on the record: Pharrell on "Blazed", Nicki Minaj on "The Light Is Coming", all of them which were produced by Pharrell, who also provides additional vocals on "R.E.M" and "Sweetener".

Lyrically, the songs deal with subjects such as requited and dream-like love, toxic relationships, self-love, female sexuality and sexual freedom, media and society's comments regarding individual lives, self-care and healing after trauma and difficult moments — two topics partially inspired by Manchester's attaks, although Grande and Williams had already made songs with similar themes before the event. Anne T. Donahue, writing for Cosmopolitan magazine, theorized the singer "packs the multi-faceted nature of what it means to be a person into a record that helps articulate the pain, complications, joy, freedom, and strength that it takes to be alive." As for artists, Grande said two of her main influences helped to "bless" the album: Madonna, who proclaims a monolgue on "God Is a Woman" music video, and Imogen Heap, with a cover of her song "Goodnight n Go" being included on the record. Songwriter Savan Kotecha, in an interview for Vulture, revealed that various artists, albums and songs that Grande used to listen to when she was young served as influences, citing The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and Brandy Norwood.

Music and lyrics

Sweetener starts with the interlude "Raindrops (An Angel Cried)", a 37-second acapella cover of "An Angel Cried" (1964), written by Bob Gaudio and performed by The Four Seasons. The second song, "Blazed", features a guest appearance by Pharrell and funds R&B elements with funk influences, with ascending keys and fast-paced percurssion. Grande uses the low register of her voice, singing in a sutile and airy way, interspersing verses with Pharrell on the bridge. Nicki Minaj-featured "The Light Is Coming" is an electropop and dance-pop with R&B, hip hop and dancehall influences. Its production includes quick drums, "jittery" beats and synths, as well a proeminent vocal snipped of a man yelling to former senator Arlen Specter: "You wouldn't let anybody speak for this and instead!". Lyrically, it is a comment om the age of instant and constant judgment and criticism from people with "their loud ass opinions making them deaf to others and the light". The fourth track "R.E.M" is a slow tempo R&B track which includes electronic doo-wop beats, soft instrumentation and additional vocals by Pharrell. Grande has a diverse vocal delivery on the song, incorporating slow and smooth singing, rap-like verses, vocal harmonies and spoken word. Its title refers to rapid eye sleep, while the song itself talks about "dreaming someone into your life" and a relationship that blurs between the dreamworld and reality, portrayed as a meeting pictured by the singer on her dreams, in lines as such "Last night, boy I met you / When I was asleep / You're such a dream to me".

"God Is a Woman" is an uptempo pop song which funds hip hop elements, trap production and beats, reggae and soft rock influences on its composition. Grande delivers singing and rapping as well "vocal acrobatics" and, in some moments, are heard layered vocals in different keys, similar to a choir, but it is actually her voice multiplied. Its lyrical content relies on messages of feminility, female sexuality and freedom, and spirituality, with Grande stating that her partner will say "God is a woman" after spending a night with her. The title track follows and its a hip hop and soul-oriented track; its structure features vocal harmonines supported by piano keys, followed by trap beats, as well additional vocals from Pharrell. The lyrics talk about self-care and empowerment with double entendres about sex, with Grande singing on the chorus: "When life deals us cards / Make everything taste like it is salt / Then you come through like the sweetener you are / To bring the bitter taste to a halt". Seventh song "Successful" contains drum programming and alternating vocal ranges, and it is about "girls feeling good ab [sic] their own individual success [and] celebrating each other". "Everytime" is a trap-pop and R&B song whose lyrics portrays a relationship where attraction becomes obsession and Grande returns to her partner several times, even if he heartbreaks her. "Breathin" is a pop and dance-pop with synthpop influences, a disco-EDM production, acapella moments and electronic drums, similar to 1980 songs. It is about Grande's feelings after having anxiety attacks.

Tenth song "No Tears Left to Cry" is a dance-pop and disco song with UK garage beats. Lyrically influenced after Manchester terrorist attacks, it deals with optimist and "celebrates rising above the world's negativity", with Grande alternating between "lifting her voice, pleadingly, for positivity" and "rhythmically" singing the verses with a "nearly spoken-word" vocalization. "Borderline" features Missy Elliott and it's a 2000 R&B-influenced track, builded basically on synths and percurssion, with Grande swearing fidelity to her partner on the lyrics. "Better Off" is a slow R&B ballad and talks about the ending of a toxic relationship. "Goodnight n Go" is a partial cover of Imogen Heap's song and derivates of EDM and future bass, with tropical and deep house elements and lyrics that portrays a sweet romance. Heap had a positive reaction to this cover, telling Billboard: "[I]t's a real gift. I think she's done a lovely version of it. I love that saucy verse she's put in there and twisted it up at the end." "Pete Davidson" is an interlude whose title and lyrics refers to Grande's then-fiancé, comedian Pete Davidson. Sweetener ends with auto-help soul ballad "Get Well Soon", inspired by Grande's panic attacks after Manchester's terror attacks. Similar to "God Is a Woman", it features layered vocals. Grande explained that it deals with "being there for each other and helping each other through scary times and anxiety" as well as "personal demons and anxiety and more intimate tragedies as well", stressing that mental health is very important. At the end of the track, 40 seconds of silence are played, making the song five minutes and twenty-two seconds long. Listeners and music critics theorized it is a tribute to the Manchester's tragedy, since it features snippets of total silence and ends with exact 5 minutes and 22 seconds (5/22 — May 22, the date when the attacks took place).

Title and release

Grande announced the album's title as Sweetener during her appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, aired on May 1, 2018, along some song's titles: "Raindrops", "God Is a Woman", "R.E.M", "Borderline" and "The Light Is Coming". She explained it is about "bringing light to a situation or to someone's life or somebody else brings life to your life. Sweetening the situation", stating for Time magazine that the name serves as a message of taking a bad situtaion and make it better: "When you're handed a challenge, instead of sitting there and complaining about it, why not try to make something beautiful?". On Twitter, Grande wrote: "I know some people don't understand it yet but the body of work feels like sweetener. [L]ike warm yummy agave. [a]nd clouds. w[ith] a little big of crying and sex on the side". She had previously teased the title on 2016, through an Instagram post captioned with the word "sweetener" on it.

As part of her appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on May 1, 2018, Grande revealed that events related to Sweetener would take place on each 20-numbered day of the next three monts, starting on May with her "No Tears Left to Cry" performance at the Billboard Music Awards, and confirmed it would be released on 2018 summer, without any specific date. The date was revealed on June 20, 2018, coinciding with the album's pre-order start, which also included "The Light Is Coming" as a instant gift. The album's artwork was revealed the day before through sweetener's Instagram account, following several photos which formed a puzzle to complete the final one — a shot of Grande's front profile placed upside down, with the singer characterized with platinum hair. Similarly, the final tracklist was completed on July 19, 2018.

Grande promoted a "pajama party" to fans in Los Angeles where she performed songs of the album and also gave them the first full listen of the record, and soon after was interviewed for The Zach Sang Show. Sweetener was released worldwide on August 17, 2018, on CD, digital download and streaming formats, with a special physical Japanese edition featuring a "No Tears Left to Cry" karaoke as a bonus track and a additional DVD with the music videos for this song and "The Light Is Coming". Grande promoted a virtual release party for the album, performing songs from it and answering questions of fans; the $12 ticket for the event also guaranteed a digital copy of the record for each person. Several products were made avaliable on Grande's online store through which United States fans could have a digital copy of the album and guaranteed access to pre-sale of tickets for its then-upcoming tour as well. A similar strategy also took place on Snapchat, starting on August 23, 2018, where was made available a pastel mask filter with the album's title printed on it — the mask could be bought through the app and also guaranteed access to tickets pre-sale, valid for fans worlwide. Sweetener was also distributed on cassette and vinyl, which were made available for fans worldwide on August 22, 2018, and October 26, 2018, respectively.

Promotion

Live performances

Grande first performed "No Tears Left to Cry" live on its release date, April 20, 2018, during DJ Kygo's set at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. She later sang it on television for the first time on May 1 at The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, performing the song on the show once again later on May 15 alongside Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, using Nintendo Labo and Switch as backing instruments. Another performance took place days before, on May 4, during Youtube Brandcast events, where she sang "Side to Side" and "Dangerous Woman" as well. Opening the 2018 Billboard Music Awards, which took place on May 20 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Grande used a black ribbon in her hair and wore a black minidress, leggings and six-inch knee-high stiletto boots. She was accompained by dancers with umbrellas, while the set featured white columns and arches with bricks and clouds projected onto their surfaces. Headlining Wango Tango festival in Los Angeles, on June 2, 2018, Grande sang "No Tears Left to Cry" and previous songs of her discography, and also sang portions of "The Light Is Coming" live for the first time.

Grande performing "God Is a Woman" at 2018 MTV Video Music Awards

Grande was featued on "Carpool Karaoke" segment of The Late Late Show with James Corden, which aired on August 15, 2018, where she sang "God Is a Woman", "No Tears Left to Cry" and "Side to Side", as well as a cover of Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now". The singer performed "God Is a Woman" at 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, on August 20 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, recreating the Last Supper in a slow and elaborated choreography, accompained by over 50 female dancers. At the end of the performance, she walked hand in hand with her mother Joan, her grandmother Marjorie and her cousin Lani. Two days later, Grande was interviewed on Good Morning America and sang an acoustic version of "God Is a Woman". She starred an one-hour BBC television special titled Ariana Grande at the BBC, which was filmed on September 6, 2018 and aired on November 1. It showcased performances mainly of songs from Sweetener, as well some of her previous songs, backed by an all-female orchestra, interspersed with interviews with presenter Davina McCall. On November 7, 2018, Grande performed "Breathin" and "Thank U, Next", lead single of her then-upcoming fifth album of the same name, on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Grande held a series of three promotional concerts on theaters, titled The Sweetener Sessions, performing on August 20 in New York City — after the MTV Video Music Awards —, Augst 22 in Chicago and August 25 in Los Angeles. An extra date took place in London on August 28. The Sweetener World Tour began on March 18, 2019 in Albany, New York and is scheduled to end on October 13, 2018 in Zurich, touring arenas across North America and Europe over a 78-date itinerary. A special concert in Manchester is also being planned. Grande also performed at Coachella on April 14 and 21, with a similar set of the tour, with special appearances by 'N Sync, Sean Combs and Nicki Minaj on the first day.

Singles

"No Tears Left to Cry" was released on April 20, 2018 as the lead single from Sweetener. It received critical acclaim due to its lyrics and Grande's vocals, being named as "Single of the Year" by NME. Commercially, the track reached number one in a dozen of countries, debuting atop record charts of countries as such Australia, Ireland, Norway and Portugal, and reached top ten on various other countries, such as Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It debuted and peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, tying "Problem" as Grande's highest debut at the time, also reaching number one on component Pop Songs and Dance Club Songs charts. Its accompayning music video, directed by Dave Meyers, premiered on the same day and features Grande singing the song on various sets with optical illusion. The video was critically praised for its visual and production values and won Best Pop at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards.

"God Is a Woman" was released on July 13, 2018 as the second single from the album. Critics reacted positively, hihglighting its vocals, lyrics and contemporary production, with some naming it the "Song of the Summer". The song reached number one in Greece and top ten on countries such as Australia, Canada, Finland, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States, where it first debuted at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, reached number eight after the album's release and peaked atop Pop Songs and Dance Club Songs. Also directed by Meyers, its music video features several references to classical art works, Greek mythology, astronomy and female genitalia; there's also a monolgue proclaimed by Madonna, who paraphrases the version of Ezekiel 25:17 that appears in the movie Pulp Fiction. It was well received by music journalists, who noted its visuals, references and production.

"Breathin" was sent to United States contemporary hit radios on September 18, 2018, as the third and last single from Sweetener. Music critics gave positive reviews for the track, chosing it as one the album's hightlists. After the album's release, it debuted atop Greek charts and reached top 10 position on Australia, Ireland, Portugal and United Kingdom, as well top 20 on Austria, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland. On the United States, it debuted at number 22 and later peaked at number 12, reaching number two on Pop Songs and number one on Hot Dance Club Songs. Its official video was released on November 7, 2018, and directed by Hannah Lux Davis, portraying Grande performing the song on a train station, while people pass by, including scenes of her on clouds.