An Ariana Grande song is often a densely layered affair, especially when it comes to her vocal arrangements. Now the singer has pulled back the curtain on how “Positions” come to be with a new behind-the-scenes clip, which shows her in the studio getting the finer points of the song’s vocals sorted out. In the video, Grande is in a recording booth, busting out multiple takes of vocal layers, trying multiple ideas and honing in on minute details in pursuit of the perfect sound.
some more footage from the making of ‘positions’ for u
vocal arranging, stacking the bridge https://t.co/5R0sg42bzl
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) April 6, 2021
Grande previously spoke about how “Positions” came to be the lead single of Positions despite the consensus among her team that “34+35” would claim that honor, saying, “I was like driving to [producer and songwriter Tommy Brown]’s one day to finish one of the records […] and I was listening to everything, and I remember the moment where I was like, ‘Oh, ‘Positions’ is really challenging ’34+35′ in a big way.’ This is tonally what I want to set the pace for the album with. It just felt more grown and like more of an accurate representation of what was to come. So I remember that day and I remember telling everyone and everyone looking at me like I was a little bit crazy, except Tommy and Ray. Ray was always team ‘Positions,’ but everyone else was kinda like, ‘We gotta talk her out of this,’ and um, they didn’t.”
Check out the behind-the-scenes video above and revisit our review of Positions here.