"...Arriving less than six months after Sweetener, Thank U, Next could have felt hurried, a dashed-off cash-in to secure Grande’s status as the world’s biggest pop star. Instead, the braggadocious, ice-cold low point 7 Rings aside, it feels more cohesive, the result of a burst of creativity and a prevailing mood as opposed to Sweetener’s crude split down the middle between Pharrell’s trademark sinewy sound and the more pop leanings of Max Martin and his team. While here the production is shared between the likes of Martin, Tommy Brown and Happy Perez, there’s a through line sonically – a kind of off-kilter, metallic eeriness – that ties it together.

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Crucially, at the centre of it all, perhaps for the first time, is Grande. As with Rihanna’s Anti, this feels like the work of a pop star previously happy to act as conduit for other people, finally working out who they are and what they want to say. Here, Grande finds her voice."

- Michael Cragg, The Guardian