Easter Egg Hunt: Reading Between the Lyrics of Ariana Grande, Kacey Musgraves, and Justin Timberlake
It’s a great time to be a pop music fan.
And while Taylor Swift may be music’s kingpin when it comes to digging up Easter eggs for us to dig up and dissect — a tunnel-digging trend that will no doubt continue when she drops her “Tortured Poets Oath” on April 19 — she’s not the only superstar singer playing hide-and-seek with her fans. .
In fact, major artists like Ariana Grande, Kacey Musgraves, and Justin Timberlake have turned their new albums — “Eternal Sunshine,” “Deeper Well,” and “Everything I Thought It Was,” respectively — into a veritable hunting ground for pastel-colored birds. Dish as we head into the Easter holiday.
Ariana Grande
On “Eternal Sunshine” — her seventh studio album, which had the highest debut of 2024 and remained at No. 1 in its second week on the Billboard 200 — the perpetually ponytailed singer is in the process of divorce after separating from real estate agent Dalton Gomez, whom she married in 2021.
There’s also lyrical evidence about her relationship in “Thank U, Next” with her “Wicked” co-star Ethan Slater. In fact, some fans believe that “Eternal Sunshine” is the initial symbol of her current beau.
“Introduction (Apocalypse)”
The opening track of “Eternal Sunshine” seems to allude to Grande questioning her own relationship radar, perhaps with both Gomez and Slater: “How do I know if I’m in the right relationship?”/Aren’t you really supposed to know ‘that?/ Feel it in your bones and admit it?”
“Eternal sunshine”
The title’s shimmering tune seems to address both Gomez’s playing — with some apparent betrayal — and then finding the “good boy” in Slater: “I showed you all my demons, all my lies / And yet you played with me like an Atari / Now it’s Time’s like I’m looking in the mirror / I hope you feel good when you’re in it / I found a good boy and he’s by my side / You’re just eternal sunshine.
Kacey Musgraves
On the country-pop musician’s last studio album, 2021’s “Star-Crossed,” she was recovering from the heartbreak of her divorce from singer-songwriter Ruston Kelly. After her breakup with lyricist Cole Shaver last year, Musgraves mines more breakup drama in the more whimsical tunes of “Deeper Well,” which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 this week.
“deeper well”
Either of Musgraves’ exes — or both — could be the subject of the deceptively sunny title tune: “There’s two kinds of people/ One’s a giver and the other’s always trying to take all they can take/ So I’m saying goodbye/ To the people I feel like they’re really good at wasting My time / I’ve got no regrets, baby / I just think maybe you’ll go your way and I’ll go mine / It’s been a really good time / But you’ve got a dark energy, something I can’t change the vision / And I’ve got to take care of myself.”
“Too good to be true”
The album’s second single seems to suggest that Musgraves is potentially setting herself up for more heartache with Schafer — someone who might be “too good to be true” — following her divorce from Kelly: “Please don’t make me feel remorse/Openin'” Lift up that part of myself/that I was afraid to give back/Be good to me and I’ll be good to you/But please don’t be too good to be true.”
Justin Timberlake
On his first solo album since 2018’s Everything I Thought It Was, Timberlake is a happily married man — to actress Jessica Biel — who appears to still be sorting out the details of his messy breakup with Britney Spears in the early 2000s in ” Drown,” while also enjoying the “paradise” he found with his wife of 11 years on the album joint *NSYNC.
“He is drowning”
“You left me alone in the dark with all your demons/I’m caught in a wave of all the tears I’ve cried/Yes, you know my heart is blind, and drowning from the beginning/I should never have followed you” This far, now I’m in the deep end/And I’ve “You let me drown.”
“heaven”
“Because I’ve waited/I’ve been waiting forever/Here for this moment/Between you and me/It’s all happening/And it’s just what I imagined/I imagined it would be like/Heaven.”