Maps of Music

petal (2026)

Where the lyrics of petal take you, and where it was really made.

The title is stylized in lowercase, and the album takes its name from a metaphor about a flower pushing up through the cracks in pavement.

Key places

Recording at Jungle City Studios, New York (2026)

Recording site Jungle City Studios — Jungle City Studios in New York is credited as a recording site for track 2 of the album. The point is set at building level, so the exact room used is not stated. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording at Godzilya Studios, Los Angeles (2026)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — Godzilya Studios in Los Angeles is credited as a recording site for track 2 of the album. The point sits at the city center because only the city is known, not the studio address. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Petal is the eighth studio album by American singer and songwriter Ariana Grande
• Released 31 July 2026 through Republic Records and her own imprint, Babydoll Music
• Grande and Ilya Salmanzadeh wrote the album and executive-produced it; Max Martin contributed production on three tracks
• A pop and R&B album with atmospheric production, synthesizers, drum machines, and an electronic soundscape
• Main themes are romance, self-worth, and fame
• Centers on finding hope and resilience after emotional and mental turmoil
• Twelve tracks in total

Background

• In March 2024, Eternal Sunshine, her seventh studio album, topped the US Billboard 200
• In January 2026, Grande was promoting her role as Glinda in the films Wicked (2024) and Wicked: For Good (2025)
• Grande said the album draws from emotions she had been too shy or polite to explore before
• On May 7, she described the album in an Instagram video as a little feral and full of life
• She said much of the material was written from unfiltered rage and that she resisted softening the lyrics through heavy rewrites
• She called it more experimental than her previous work

Recording

• Grande confirmed she finished recording the album on April 8 and shared a studio image that day
• Track 2 was recorded at Jungle City Studios in New York and Godzilya Studios in Los Angeles
• The same track was recorded at MXM Studios in Los Angeles and Stockholm
• Mixing for track 2 was done at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, and mastering at Sterling Sound in Edgewater

Cover

• Black-and-white close-up of Grande smiling, with brunette hair partly covering her face
• She is not wearing her signature ponytail
• The artwork was photographed by Katia Temkin

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Born June 26, 1993, in Boca Raton, Florida.
• Performed as a child with the Fort Lauderdale Children's Theater, playing Annie.
• Sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a Florida Panthers home game at age eight.

Career

• Began in the Broadway musical 13 (2008).
• Gained fame as Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon series Victorious (2010–2013) and its spin-off Sam & Cat (2013–2014).
• Signed with Republic Records; debut album Yours Truly (2013) debuted atop the Billboard 200.
• Albums My Everything (2014) and Dangerous Woman (2016) brought international success.
• Sweetener (2018) and Thank U, Next (2019) mark her trap-influenced period; Positions followed in 2020.
• Eternal Sunshine (2024) marked her move into dance and house music; Petal (2026) followed as her eighth studio album.
• Acting work includes Don't Look Up (2021) and Glinda in Wicked (2024) and Wicked: For Good (2025).

Recognition

• Three Grammy Awards, one Brit Award, and fifteen MTV Video Music Awards.
• Ten Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles; the first solo artist to hold the top three Hot 100 spots at once (2019).

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Music Times noted that reviews were generally positive, though critics were split over the album's restrained approach against its advertised emotional intensity
• Metacritic: generally favorable reviews, weighted average score of 67 out of 100 from 16 critic scores
• AnyDecentMusic?: 15 reviews compiled, weighted average score of 6.3 out of 10
• Rolling Stone (Rob Sheffield): praised the unfiltered emotion and said anger is the album's strength rather than a weakness
• Billboard (Kyle Denis): called it much more grounded than Grande's earlier works
• Attitude (Jamie Tabberer), Variety (Jem Aswad), and Sputnikmusic (Sowing): agreed it is Grande's most profound and accomplished work so far
• The Times (Will Hodgkinson): described it as a dreamy, old-fashioned record with sophisticated production
• Vulture (Craig Jenkins): called it a solid album but not a reinventive body of work
• The Daily Telegraph (Neil McCormick): found the advertised unfiltered rage came across only as mild irritation
• The Guardian (Katie Hawthorne): liked its dark soundscape but found the emotional themes somewhat repetitive
• Stereogum (Tom Breihan): felt Grande had downplayed herself into meticulously crafted background music

Records

• Billboard 200: debuted at number one with 295,000 album-equivalent units in its first week
• Pure album sales of 168,000 units in the first week, with 96,000 from vinyl
• Hot 100: all 12 tracks entered at once, with Hate That I Made You Love Me at number two and the title track at number four
• Topped the ARIA Albums Chart, Official Aotearoa Music Charts, and UK Albums Chart, her sixth chart-topper in those nations
• Topped the charts in 20 countries
• France: debuted at number one, her first chart-topper on the French Albums Chart

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Grande performed the album's tracks during the Eternal Sunshine Tour
• Canadian listening events ran from July 31 to August 2 across 16 independent record stores in 13 cities
• Five alternate versions of the album were released exclusively to digital
• A live album featuring live versions of all tracks from Petal was surprise-released on the iTunes Store on September 8
• The album's exclusive vinyl edition was named Cloudy Gray Girl
• Track 2 credits list Jungle City Studios in New York and Godzilya Studios in Los Angeles among its recording sites

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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