The song is lyrically about Grande’s denial of failed relationships. imagine is a R&B song with a trap-inspired beat and a pop ballad all in one. It also features multiple whistles notes from the singer that will leave you speechless.
It is rumored that the inspiration for imagine was inspired by Grande’s ex-boyfriend Mac Miller, who died of a drug overdose in September of 2018.
She begins to makes two references to Mac Miller's 2016 song “Cinderella” from his album The Divine Feminine. Here are the lyrics to Cinderella:
"And when you hungry, I can chef you up some stir fry"
Now, compare that to Ariana's interpolation of the song on imagine:
"Staying up all night, order me pad thai/ Then we gon' sleep 'til noon"
Here is the second reference in which Grande sings, "Knew you were perfect after the first kiss/ Took a deep breath like "Ooh"/ Feels like forever, baby, I never thought that it would be you"
This is also very similar to when Miller rapped about not being Ariana's type on Cinderella with the lyrics:
"You used to tell me all the time I ain't your type/Now you always wanna spend the night"
Coincidence, anyone?
On the chorus, Ariana sings about an unattainable love that is now unreachable with the lyrics, "Imagine a world like that/ Imagine a world like that/ We go like up 'til I'm 'sleep on your chest/ Love how my face fits so good on your neck/ Why can't you imagine a world like that? Imagine a world"
My take on imagine is that I love how this song is opposite from her previous single "thank u, next", which was all about self-empowerment. The maturity of Grande's voice on this track makes you want to love the singer even more.
I would give this single 10/10 because of the dark theme and the lyrics of it that really speaks to you.
Buy/stream "imagine" on Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud and Google Play:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/imagine-single/1446649414
https://www.amazon.com/imagine-Explicit-Ariana-Grande/dp/B07LBB4M7R
https://open.spotify.com/album/61c5zqfBCSPO1tb3DFbbFB
https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Ariana_Grande_imagine?id=Bcmqgw33gyxsspdhxxslwnwkqxi
https://soundcloud.com/ariana-grande-official/imagine
