For those who have quickly forgotten Madonna’s storied past with film–and incorporating her own music into it so as to secure at least some success–Ariana Grande’s prominence throughout the Charlie’s Angels Soundtrack (despite not even making so much as a cameo in the movie) harkens back to something Madonna pioneered for the modern mainstream in 1987 (for can we really count Barbra Streisand’s not exactly chart-friendly soundtrack scene starting with Funny Girl and ending, essentially, with Yentl?).
Although she had done light play in terms of coming up with just one song for the soundtrack to 1985’s Vision Quest (in which she cameos as a nightclub singer) and Desperately Seeking Susan with “Crazy For You” and “Into the Groove” respectively, it wasn’t until 1987’s Who’s That Girl that she was tasked with coming up with the bulk of the songs for the accompanying record (granted, it was at a time when Madonna’s records were only topping out at nine songs). Starting with the lead single named after the movie, Madonna also added “Causing A Commotion,” “The Look of Love” and “Can’t Stop” amid such forgettable non-heavy hitters of the 80s as Club Nouveau and Scritti Politti.
While the movie was a box office failure (which had already been the trend in M’s career after 1986’s Shanghai Surprise), the soundtrack was a hit, and helped bolster a world tour called Who’s That Girl the same year. At least having confidence in her ability to profitably (“I’m so successful!” one can hear Ari chirping to this sentence) back a soundtrack that could cushion any cinematic failure, M dove into the same formula again for 1990’s Dick Tracy–except this time, she would sing every song on an album called I’m Breathless: Music From and Inspired by the Film Dick Tracy. With most of the tracks performed in the character of Breathless Mahoney, the only one that was dance floor ready proved to be what remains one of Madonna’s most enduring singles, “Vogue.”
Taking on still further weight where soundtracks were concerned in 1996 for the double soundtrack album of Evita, Madonna underwent intense vocal training for the project that would forever change her voice in the ears of critics still determined to call her Minnie Mouse on helium (though by 1992’s Erotica, a huskiness had decidedly replaced any trace of Madonna’s 80s vocal intonation). As a result, the Evita soundtrack would become “the first entry on the chart for a ‘broadway musical transitioned into film soundtrack’ since Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture in 1978.” Not bad for a girl from Michigan.
But let us get back now to the girl from Florida and her Charlie’s Angels Soundtrack, which has quite a bit of help from featured vocalists like Nicki Minaj, Miley Cryus and Lana Del Rey. Commencing with the get the party started anthem that is “How It’s Done,” Grande lets the quartet of Kash Doll, Kim Petras, Alma and Stefflon Don take the reins to declare, “Hands up around the world/Let me show you love, show ’em how it’s done,” before taking over with “Bad To You” featuring Normani and Nicki Minaj. Because a trifecta is apparently essential on almost every track. A sultry number that finds Grande seeming to reach near orgasm as she asks, “Why are you only good to me when I’m bad to you?,” Minaj tempers the seduction with her usual rough verse.
The already instant classic that is “Don’t Call Me Angel” follows, with Grande’s soft vocal stylings harmonized by Del Rey’s subduedness and Cyrus’ irascible declarations. Ones that pertain to the larger theme of the song, which is basically what Michelle Pfeiffer said in Scarface: “Don’t call me baby. I’m not your baby.” The island evocative sound of “Eyes Off You” by M-22, Arlissa and Kiana Ledé feels like it easily could’ve been the Ari B-side to “Breathin’” with its rhythmic backbeat and call to: “Don’t let go, don’t let go/You set the rhythm, I take my position/Position, position.” Would that the album had been released in the summer for optimal enjoyment of the song.
Just as the original Charlie’s Angels Soundtrack of 2000 did, this one, too, pays homage to the decade of the 70s in which the original TV show took place. But instead of packing the album heavily with hits of the era like “Barracuda” and “Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl),” the producers (including Grande as co-executive producer) chose simply to feature a remix of Donna Summer’s “Bad Girls” (albeit a reinvigorating one from Gigamesh). The song that will truly never die thanks to mainstream Hollywood cinema. Yet it’s a natural segue into Grande’s collaboration with Chaka Khan on “Nobody.” Unsurprisingly, it starts out immediately with a tone of empowerment (somewhat sounding like the intro to “Erotica”). Picking up where Destiny’s Child left off with “Independent Women Pt. 1,” “Nobody” finds Grande asserting, “Mmm, must blow your mind to see a young lady on top/Ain’t a man in the world that could tell me stop, no/Ain’t got no time for your ego, don’t like it like that, yeah/I could give you sweet lovin’, I’m tellin’ you that.” Which surely she has to the likes of all the men mentioned in “thank u, next” and beyond.
To bring it all back to the Madonna connection (as every pop culture element must inevitably be), we have an appearance by Anitta (who shows up on Madame X to sing “Faz Gostoso”) with “Pantera.” Another track drenched in temptation and cajolery, Anitta warns she’s a dangerous woman not to be trifled with–just as the Angels themselves often have to warn any love interest they get involved with.
Possessing a Bond theme-like quality, “How I Look On You” (on which Grande goes entirely solo) begins moodily before crescendoing into an assault of beats as Ari taunts, “Say you want me anyway, do ya?/You can handle all this fame, can ya?/Like me just the way I are/Just the way I, way I are, yeah, yeah/You would like me anyway, would ya?/You won’t let me get away, won’t ya?” Noticeably produced by ILYA and Max Martin, there are moments of vulnerability peppered in during which Grande admits, “I don’t believe no one no more/Boy, show me what you’re in it for/Been on the low when it comes to love (when it comes, when it comes to love)/Said, ‘Do you like how I look or just how I look on you?’” Concluding with a melodic self-harmonization, “How I Look On You” is one of Grande’s strongest efforts on the record.
Surrendering the spotlight to someone else one more time, Grande lets Danielle Bradbery’s “Blackout” shine with its slow pace and rich vocals that liken the flourishing of a toxic relationship to blacking out. At least with regard to how we keep coming back for more as though we’ve forgotten entirely all the fighting and the literal drinking to cope with said fighting. It often echoes the sonic vibes of Skylar Grey, who appears in the trailer of Madonna’s W.E. with “Invisible”–the soundtrack itself of which featured M’s Golden Globe-winning “Masterpiece” (much to Elton John’s dismay). For she wasn’t immune to going back to one-off songs for soundtracks either–manifested in the form of “This Used to Be My Playground,” “I’ll Remember,” “Beautiful Stranger” and “Die Another Day” (whereas The Next Best Thing would offer two tracks: “American Pie” and “Time Stood Still”).
To round it all out before a modern reworking of the “Charlie’s Angels Theme,” Grande hits us over the head one last time with the notion of female financial independence on “Got Her Own.” Teaming again with Victoria Monét, the song offers more than a hint of “Monopoly” intonations and motifs, including lyrics that paint the picture, “Me and all my girls keep it lit when we come through/We can buy a table in the bar if we want to/Don’t be tryna front ’cause this ain’t what you used to/Ladies in the buildin’, probably makin’ more than you.” It’s all in keeping with Grande’s present “Material Girl”/don’t need no man but will still fuck one brand. The scenes of which could easily be synced to the fire reinvention of the “Charlie’s Angels Theme” from Jack Elliott and Allyn Ferguson. Or anything from Madonna’s own soundtrack oeuvre. Which Grande has done well to take the initiative on reinvigorating the “Madonna method,” offering us a total of five songs on what might as well be billed as an Ariana Grande EP.
