Ariana Grande is used to being in the spotlight, but over time, she’s gotten savvy at playing it. The pop star’s seventh studio album <I>eternal sunshine</I>—a lightly conceptual riff on the head-spinning 2004 film starring Jim Carrey, of whom Grande has said she’s a lifelong fan—feels like a mind game itself, blurring the lines between real-life references and theatrical bits. It arrives in the middle of a whirlwind tabloid-packed stretch—Grande married, divorced, and scored a starring role in Hollywood’s big-screen adaptation of <I>Wicked</I>—and she knows fans have questions. What’s true? What’s real? Ari gives a lot of things on this album, but answers aren’t one of them, a cunning reminder of how little transparency celebrities actually owe us. In an interview with Zane Lowe, Grande leans into the project’s thematic murkiness. “true story,” she says, is “an untrue story based on all untrue events,” and when asked about her own experience with the Saturn return, an astrology milestone referenced in the album’s only interlude, she shrugs. “It was chill. Nothing changed. Pretty uneventful.” She says she finds freedom in art because “you can really pull from anywhere,” and she describes the film as another “lovely costume” to wear. Her answers have flickers of defiance that feel like power. Whoever said albums had to be tidy, or true? “It doesn’t have to be an everlasting love story,” she tells Lowe. “Love is complicated. Showcasing both sides of it is what I tried to [do].” If there’s one thing these tracks make clear, it’s that she’s still Ari on the mic—she’s still hitting those high highs (“eternal sunshine”); still finding release on the dance floor (“yes, and?”); still sifting gold out of ’90s R&B (“the boy is mine”), a sequel to the leaked 2023 track “fantasize.” Her favorite? “imperfect for you,” a tribute to the friends who make up her inner circle. “We’re so lucky to have loved ones who are accepting and real with us no matter what,” she says. “We live in a time where everything is boiled down, but that song demands room for nuance, humanness, and complexity.”

「海马森林 (Seahorse forest)」 2014年我们在德国杜塞尔多夫录制了第一张专辑，录音棚不远处有一片大森林，我们时常会去逛逛。那里古老的巨树遮天蔽日，把脖子后仰到极限也望不到枝桠蔓延的边际。 2024年我们在混音间隙重游这片大森林，听着啄木鸟嘴撞击树干的声音，闻着熟悉的苔藓味，脑中海马体种下的回忆也像森林般生长。这片森林一直在那里，每到做音乐的时候我们就会走进林中逡巡。我们时不时想起自己在起点时的样子，也时不时感慨自己怎么“变了这么多"或“一点也没变"。 这张专辑叫作「海马森林」，与其称之为精选辑，我们更愿意把它叫作回顾辑。专辑中收录的并不是所谓的“代表作"，而是我们自己觉得有必要新做一个版本，并且放在一起能形成完整专辑气质的八首歌曲。 表情银行向来不喜欢回头，这次的回头也是“向前回头"，我们不是想简单找几首自己的老歌新编一下，而是想用自己2024年的身心状态和制作能力赋予歌曲新鲜的质感，让它变成一张"新"专辑。「海马森林」整体呈现出Chamber Pop式的木质声响，编配不追求浓烈，而追求让人声与每种乐器都清晰可辨、充满情感，乐手们仿佛在一座森林木屋中围绕着你演奏。这些充满"人味"的编配想法有我们这些年在现场和排练室中逐渐堆砌起来的，也有专辑制作过程中与伙伴们一起Jam出来的。 熟悉的歌曲，全新的旅程。亲爱的听友们，欢迎走进我们的「海马森林」。 「海马森林 (Seahorse forest)」 词：思雨／韦坤劫 曲：思雨 演唱：思雨 和声：思雨／通通 「重生摇篮曲」Featuring: 陈思江／艾迪娜 编曲：表情银行乐队 吉他：Robin人友 鼓：张有超 贝斯／钢琴／合成器／采样／铃鼓：通通 萨克斯／长笛／长号：张艺威 大提琴：陈顺顺 制作人：通通 录音：通通／李轩（鼓组录制） 混音：通通 母带制作：通通 录音棚：思雨和通通的客厅／绿村GreenVillage Studio（鼓组录制） 封面及内页摄影：通通 平面设计：柳文锋 艺人经纪：赵欣 发行：硬地加速（北京）文化科技有限公司 特别鸣谢：李智勇、陈磊、Michael