Ariana Grande's Sweetener World Tour unabashedly demonstrates her perseverance

It is difficult to imagine the extent to which Ariana Grande has suffered the past two years. After the singer delivered a performance in Manchester as part of her 2017 Dangerous Woman Tour, a suicide bomber attacked the arena, resulting in the deaths of 22 innocent civilians. As if the Manchester events were not traumatic enough, Grande continued to experience misfortune and loss in 2018, including a failed four-month engagement to comedian Pete Davidson, as well as the accidental overdose death of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller. However, rather than fleeing from the spotlight and disappearing into the shadows, Grande dedicated herself entirely to her music, somehow managing to release two full-length albums within a period of six months. Although “Sweetener” (2018) and “thank u, next” (2019) contain a plethora of power anthems and dance-worthy bops, they also encompass a wide variety of emotional ballads that allow the listener to not just understand but also empathize with everything Grande was thinking of and feeling during her time of need. Indeed, the singer some call the new “Queen of Pop” is fully prepared to tell her story, and she demands the world to pay her the attention she deserves.

The Sweetener World Tour began in Albany on March 18, and arrived at TD Garden two days later, making Boston the second stop of the entire tour. Thus, fans had no idea what to expect. However, it was clear from the opening acts that the concert was sure to be anything but lackluster. Normani, one of the headliners, delivered a particularly powerful performance. She began with a deeply moving tribute to Rihanna, a stunning medley of several of the artist’s most beloved songs, and then quickly transitioned to her own repertoire, which both paid homage to her former girl group Fifth Harmony and proved to the audience that her singing and dancing abilities are no less awe-inducing now that she has gone solo.

Nevertheless, as soon as Grande rose up through a trapdoor on the stage and broke into the rousing opening verse of “God is a woman,” an enormous wave of energy crashed over the stadium — she had made a promise that she would bare her soul completely, and she did not intend to break it. Her voice rang out in its iconic breathiness while she serenaded us with nearly 30 songs, ranging across her entire discography. She wasn't afraid to croon a high note, and she hit every single one.

The choreography was a spectacle in and of itself. An expansive oval track extended from the stage, and Grande, along with her backup dancers, paraded around it, allowing audience members on all sides of the arena to admire her from a much closer perspective. Moreover, despite the length of the concert, Grande never seemed to tire physically or emotionally, an incredible feat given both the intensity with which she began the performance as well as the show’s frequently poignant subject matter. In fact, the only song that caused her to weep was the stirring ballad “goodnight n go,” and she was able to collect herself almost immediately.

Although her singing, dancing and overall stage presence were all equally fantastic, the area in which she truly shone was production. The lighting was terrific and perfectly tailored to the wildly shifting moods of each song, but the real standouts were the two gigantic orb-like set-pieces, one attached to the stage wall and the other suspended from the ceiling, that displayed beautiful images of the universe. The overall theme of the concert was based around space, a baffling choice until Grande sang “NASA,” an addictive bop that employs galactic symbolism as a metaphor for self-love and prioritizing one’s own mental and emotional stability over the desire for a romantic relationship: “You know I'm a star; space, I'ma need space.” Grande also incorporated props into her performances, such as the pink car from the “7 Rings” music video (with “Boston” playfully spray-painted on the side), and excited the audience with frequent costume changes, including the beloved black leather suit from her Dangerous Woman era. Most notable, however, were the video interludes sprinkled throughout the concert. The first was simultaneously adorable and hilarious — a home video recording of Grande in her early youth, acting out a skit she had improvised based on the film “Bruce Almighty” (2003). Admittedly, the second was somewhat more suggestive — a black-and-white, tongue-in-cheek cover of the Marilyn Monroe song “My Heart Belongs to Daddy.” These interludes allowed the audience to see a part of Grande that she cannot simply convey in her music, and also gave concertgoers a chance to refresh before jumping back in to the music.

Undoubtedly, Grande has been forced to overcome a vast array of heart-wrenching obstacles in recent years. However, the Sweetener World Tour demonstrates that she is far from giving up. Instead, she has poured her heart and soul into her craft, and proved to the world that she deserves our attention and respect. As of the date of this article’s publication, she boasts a whopping 53 million monthly listeners on Spotify, more than any other artist. Indeed, in her number-one single “7 Rings,” Grande gloats, “Been through some bad shit I should be a sad bitch / Who woulda thought it’d turn me to a savage?” Like Rumpelstiltskin spinning straw into gold, Grande has miraculously transformed her immense suffering into enormous success, and she shows no sign of relinquishing her throne any time soon.