raindrops (an angel cried)

“raindrops” is the introduction track to Ariana Grande’s “Sweetener”. The track was first heard in her “No Tears Left To Cry” music video, as well teased again in videos documenting the behind the scenes process of the video.

Grande discussed the track fully on her interview about “Sweetener” on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon. “It’s a cover of a small part of a song from the fifties called ‘An Angel Cried’. I had it in my head, I woke up – we were really close to finishing the album, and I had it in my head. I said to Max [Martin,] I said, ‘you know what, let me just, like, record this little part acapella, let’s just go in and do it, and maybe we could, like, chop it up and sample it or something, or, like, make a beat out of it or whatever'”. Once Grande had recorded the track, Martin didn’t want to touch it and wanted it to remain completely pure to its original form.

Grande was also intrigued by the origins of the track, she told Fallon. “And I went to go check to see who wrote it, I was curious, you know, and so it turns out… this is so crazy, you all are gonna think I’m lying. But my grandfather’s best friend, who I grew up hanging out with in Boca, Charlie Calello, with Bob Gaudio from The Four Seasons, and that really gave me goosebumps.”

Grande used a snippet of the “An Angel Cried” by The Four Seasons to create “raindrops (an angel cried)”, and used it as the opening track to set the tone and mood for the rest of the album.

There technically is a music video for the track, which Grande teased on Twitter, showing her singing the song on a large ascending staircase.

Release date: 17th August 2018

Songwriter/s: Bob Gaudio

Song length: 0:38

Album: Sweetener (2018)

Record Label: Republic Records

Cover of: “An Angel Cried” – The Four Seasons