breathin

“breathin” is the ninth track off Ariana Grande’s fourth studio album “Sweetener”. The song has received critical acclaim upon its release, with music critics praising Grande for singing about such a serious issue such as anxiety but making it into catchy and upbeat pop track.

The track centres around the feeling of anxiety, and how it can affect everyday things. “I look up and the whole room’s spinning”, Grande sings, or “feel my blood runnin’, swear the sky’s fallin'”, which she sings in the pre-chorus. The chorus consists of Grande telling herself to “”just keep breathin’ and breathin’ and breathin’ and breathin'”. The song also describes the panic that comes along with having anxiety, such as not knowing whether what you’re panicing about is real or not: “how do I know if this sh*t is fabricated?”, as well as not being able to control your mind. The song does seem to target a person close to Grande’s heart, with her singing, “you remind me of a time when things weren’t so complicated / all I need is to see your face”. The same person she’s singing this too is in all likelihood the same person telling her to breathe. Whether this is a lover, family member or friend, it is never clearly confirmed.

When Ariana Grande appeared on the Jimmy Fallon “The Tonight Show”, she explained the song very simply. “It’s about breathing… whe you’re anxious. It’s about anxiety and feeling like you can’t… you know, when you can’t get a full breath. It’s like the worst feeling in the world.” From that, Grande the writers and producers she was working with on “Sweetener” decided to write a song the anxiety she was feeling, probably created by the Mancherster Arena attacks back in May 2017.

There is currently no music video for “breathin”.

Release Date: 17th August 2018
Songwriter/s: Ilya Salmanzadeh, Peter Svensson, Savan Kotecha, Ariana Granda
Song Length: 3:18
Produced by: Ilya Salmanzadeh
Album: Sweetener (2018)
Chart Position: Reached #22 in the US Billboard Top 100, #38 in the US Mainstream Top 40, and was #1 on the US iTunes single chart on the 19th August 2018. It was also #8 in the UK, #4 in the Stream Top 40 in Hungary, and #1 in the Digital Songs Billboard in Greece. It also ranked high in Australia and New Zealand, reaching #8 in Australia and #11 in New Zealand.