With the upcoming Ariana Grande album, Petal, releasing at the end of the month, Grande has released her lead single from it: “Hate That I Made You Love Me.” While reviews have been mixed so far among fans, the song has become Grande’s 10th song to top the Billboard Hot 100. As NPR states, “The first single from each of her eight albums — now including Petal, which drops July 31 — has debuted in the top 10. The last four (the title tracks from Thank U, Next and Positions, “Yes, And?” from Eternal Sunshine, and now “Hate That I Made You Love Me”) have all debuted at No. 1. What propelled Grande’s song to No. 1 is sales, particularly via 55,000 digital downloads of its many different mixes.”
The Music Behind “Hate That I Made You Love Me”
The production of the song by Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh is rather minimalist. The moody energy is supported throughout with synths and a heavy bass drum. According to Hooktheory, the song’s primary chords are B-flat minor, E-flat minor, and F minor, which work together to create a darker vibe as well as create a tug in the listener when the song does use a major chord, begging the song to recenter back to minor. Additionally, Grande uses a lower register in this song, choosing to go for a more mellow, laid-back sound rather than showing off her large range. The minimalist production is meant to highlight the vocals above all else, and her rich voice is what keeps listeners’ attention.
What makes this song interesting, however, is the message behind it. What can easily be read as another love/break-up song contains a commentary on fame. Forbes writes in an article: “On the bridge, Grande inverts the familiar script of celebrity gratitude, pushing back on the assumption that she owes her audience for the devotion they gave her of their own accord, and asking, pointedly, why the public is so quick to turn on a woman who simply endures in public.” What that Forbes article neglects to state is the hollow message of the lyrics, especially of the line: “Why you so hate to see women endure?” While this message is generally true of women in the industry, Grande has an alleged past of breaking up relationships. So while it’s true that Grande has been put on an impossibly high pedestal, I don’t believe that we should forgive her for feminism-related reasons alone. I’m interested to see what other commentary she puts out in the future.
