The record opens with “imagine” followed by “needy”. In the second track, she admits that she can be needy at times, singing “Lately, I’ve been on a roller coaster / Tryna get a hold of my emotions.” She also confesses “I admit that I’m a lil’ messed up / But I can hide it when I’m all dressed up.”

What’s great about Grande’s lyrical confessions is that after the year she’s had, we’d be surprised and disappointed if her album was all smiles and sunshine. After the Manchester attack in 2017, the death of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller and the whole world watching her breakup with Pete Davidson, her record was an opportunity to address some of her personal trauma.

Instead of wallowing and self-pitying, she has responded with an album that faces her pain head on and Ariana comes out on top. She rises above her drama and in the spirit of “Thank U, Next”, she inspires her young fans in the best way possible to embrace the past… and move on.

There are a few tracks on the album which perhaps don’t hold our attention as well as they could but each has its own message. The quick tempo’d “bad idea” admits to making mistakes when it comes to moving on from previous lovers but is by no means a banger like “7 Rings” or “Thank U, Next.” In “ghostin” Grande tenderly apologizes to her current lover for her tears and sings: “We’ll get through this / we’ll get past this / I’m a girl with / A whole lot of baggage.” To see a young woman of Ariana Grande’s status being so honest with her fans through her music is inspiring.

The last three tracks of the album are the definite highlights. It’s difficult to tap our credit cards now without singing “I want it, I got it” in our heads (7 Rings) and the track finale “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored” has a level of sass we didn’t know the angel-faced Ariana Grande had.

Overall, “Thank U Next” is a brutally honest, beautifully empowering record filled with lit bangers and great advice for young women.

4/5

The post Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next”: a Beautifully Empowering Album appeared first on OMG Check It Out !.

If we’re being brutally honest, the plot of the film is average and there’s not much which isn’t predictable. Willowdean enters a beauty pageant in protest and ends up starting a “revolution” from the inside, demonstrating that beauty pageant culture shouldn’t be reserved for the thin and traditionally beautiful. In the film’s climax, fellow plus-size contestant Millie Michalchuck steals the show and ends up being awarded second place. Sure, she doesn’t win, but progress has been made in the small Texas town they reside in.

Despite being predictable, Dumplin’ was still a delight to watch. Willowdean was wholly compelling as a character and we related to her and were rooting for her all the way through. Her truth was not to celebrate yourself and your body in spite of what you look like, but to embrace everything. In a powerful speech to her mum, she declares that she is Dumplin’, but she’s also Willowdean and a beauty queen. She’s everything she wants to be and she is not limited by any one attribute. Our protagonist will not be put in a box by anyone and her confidence radiates from within.

It is difficult to watch the movie and not compare it to Netflix’s Insatiable which was released earlier this year. They both share the theme of beauty pageants and a plus-sized teenage girl looking to enter in protest. The difference is that everything Insatiable got wrong, Dumplin’ got right.

Whereas the former beauty queen shed a ridiculous amount of weight to participate, Willowdean didn’t need to change a thing about herself, she just needed to access the confidence and power she already had. Patty was self-obsessed and alienated those around her whereas Willowdean harnessed the beauty and uniqueness of those who wanted her to succeed. She built on herself and didn’t change the core of who she was, taking on board Dolly Parton’s advice: “find out who you are, and do it on purpose.”

All in all, Dumplin’ was the feel-good film we needed at the end of a rocky 2018 and I for one, will be taking on some of the heartfelt sentiments shared in the movie.

3.5/5: Hardly Oscar-winning, but a wonderful and beautiful addition to Netflix nonetheless.

The post Netflix’s Dumplin’: Sweet, Funny and Wonderfully Uplifting appeared first on OMG Check It Out !.

The record opens with “imagine” followed by “needy”. In the second track, she admits that she can be needy at times, singing “Lately, I’ve been on a roller coaster / Tryna get a hold of my emotions.” She also confesses “I admit that I’m a lil’ messed up / But I can hide it when I’m all dressed up.”

What’s great about Grande’s lyrical confessions is that after the year she’s had, we’d be surprised and disappointed if her album was all smiles and sunshine. After the Manchester attack in 2017, the death of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller and the whole world watching her breakup with Pete Davidson, her record was an opportunity to address some of her personal trauma.

Instead of wallowing and self-pitying, she has responded with an album that faces her pain head on and Ariana comes out on top. She rises above her drama and in the spirit of “Thank U, Next”, she inspires her young fans in the best way possible to embrace the past… and move on.

There are a few tracks on the album which perhaps don’t hold our attention as well as they could but each has its own message. The quick tempo’d “bad idea” admits to making mistakes when it comes to moving on from previous lovers but is by no means a banger like “7 Rings” or “Thank U, Next.” In “ghostin” Grande tenderly apologizes to her current lover for her tears and sings: “We’ll get through this / we’ll get past this / I’m a girl with / A whole lot of baggage.” To see a young woman of Ariana Grande’s status being so honest with her fans through her music is inspiring.

The last three tracks of the album are the definite highlights. It’s difficult to tap our credit cards now without singing “I want it, I got it” in our heads (7 Rings) and the track finale “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored” has a level of sass we didn’t know the angel-faced Ariana Grande had.

Overall, “Thank U Next” is a brutally honest, beautifully empowering record filled with lit bangers and great advice for young women.

4/5

The post Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next”: a Beautifully Empowering Album appeared first on OMG Check It Out !.

If we’re being brutally honest, the plot of the film is average and there’s not much which isn’t predictable. Willowdean enters a beauty pageant in protest and ends up starting a “revolution” from the inside, demonstrating that beauty pageant culture shouldn’t be reserved for the thin and traditionally beautiful. In the film’s climax, fellow plus-size contestant Millie Michalchuck steals the show and ends up being awarded second place. Sure, she doesn’t win, but progress has been made in the small Texas town they reside in.

Despite being predictable, Dumplin’ was still a delight to watch. Willowdean was wholly compelling as a character and we related to her and were rooting for her all the way through. Her truth was not to celebrate yourself and your body in spite of what you look like, but to embrace everything. In a powerful speech to her mum, she declares that she is Dumplin’, but she’s also Willowdean and a beauty queen. She’s everything she wants to be and she is not limited by any one attribute. Our protagonist will not be put in a box by anyone and her confidence radiates from within.

It is difficult to watch the movie and not compare it to Netflix’s Insatiable which was released earlier this year. They both share the theme of beauty pageants and a plus-sized teenage girl looking to enter in protest. The difference is that everything Insatiable got wrong, Dumplin’ got right.

Whereas the former beauty queen shed a ridiculous amount of weight to participate, Willowdean didn’t need to change a thing about herself, she just needed to access the confidence and power she already had. Patty was self-obsessed and alienated those around her whereas Willowdean harnessed the beauty and uniqueness of those who wanted her to succeed. She built on herself and didn’t change the core of who she was, taking on board Dolly Parton’s advice: “find out who you are, and do it on purpose.”

All in all, Dumplin’ was the feel-good film we needed at the end of a rocky 2018 and I for one, will be taking on some of the heartfelt sentiments shared in the movie.

3.5/5: Hardly Oscar-winning, but a wonderful and beautiful addition to Netflix nonetheless.

The post Netflix’s Dumplin’: Sweet, Funny and Wonderfully Uplifting appeared first on OMG Check It Out !.