Maps of Music

My Everything (2014)

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

Its cover pose became a viral Twitter meme more than three years after release.

Key places

Recording at Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles (2014)

Recording site Conway Recording Studios — Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles is one of the studios listed among the album's recording locations. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording at Record Plant in Los Angeles (2014)

Recording site Record Plant (Los Angeles) — Record Plant in Los Angeles is one of the studios listed among the album's recording locations. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording at Studio at the Palms in Las Vegas (2014)

Recording site Studio at the Palms — Studio at the Palms in Las Vegas is one of the studios listed among the album's recording locations. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording at Metropolis in London (2014)

Recording site Metropolis Studios — Metropolis in London is one of the studios listed among the album's recording locations. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Second studio album by American singer-songwriter Ariana Grande
• Released August 22, 2014, through Republic Records
• Primarily a pop, R&B and electropop record
• Expands on the 1990s retro-R&B and hip hop style of the debut, and approaches EDM and dance-pop
• Producers and co-writers include Max Martin, Shellback, Benny Blanco, Ryan Tedder, Darkchild, Ilya Salmanzadeh, Zedd and David Guetta
• Guest appearances by Iggy Azalea, Zedd, Big Sean, Cashmere Cat, Childish Gambino, the Weeknd and ASAP Ferg

Background

• Grande sought for the album to sound as an evolution from her debut Yours Truly, with more mature and diverse lyrical content
• Yours Truly was released August 30, 2013
• Recording sessions began in October 2013 with earlier producers Harmony Samuels and Tommy Brown
• January 2014: new producers confirmed, including Ryan Tedder, Savan Kotecha, Benny Blanco, Key Wane and Max Martin
• March 2014: Grande was announced as a featured artist on Chris Brown's single Don't Be Gone Too Long, which was postponed after Brown was jailed awaiting trial
• March 17, 2014: a live stream previewed four new songs, and the first single was switched to a Grande song instead
• Late May 2014: work on the album finished
• June 28, 2014: title and release date confirmed

Recording

• Sessions took place in several cities, including Los Angeles, Burbank, Santa Monica, Denver, Las Vegas, New York City, Stockholm and London
• Los Angeles studios listed: Chalice Recording, Conway Recording, Larrabee North, London Bridge, Record Plant, Vietom and Wake Up Work
• Metropolis in London is listed among the recording locations

Cover

• Photos for the packaging were taken on May 27, 2014
• Grande said she chose a simple cover because each song is strongly themed, leaving room for more visual themes within each song

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

• Metacritic: average 64 out of 100, based on 19 reviews, defined as generally favorable reviews
• Critics praised Grande's artistic growth, vocal performances and move toward a more mature pop sound
• Rolling Stone: Rob Sheffield viewed it as evidence of Grande's artistic growth, calling it a brazen pop record that mixes bubblegum diva vocals with EDM-influenced production
• USA Today: Elysa Gardner noted a balance of ballads and more emotionally earnest material with girlish playfulness and growing confidence
• AllMusic: Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that Grande approaches the album less as a traditional diva and more as a pop ringleader
• Billboard: Jason Lipshutz said the album turned Grande into a dance, pop and soul artist
• Pitchfork: Meaghan Garvey saw Grande emerging as a true pop artist rather than a charming novelty, with songs that may not be timeless
• Los Angeles Times: Mikael Wood found Grande in impressive form
• Entertainment Weekly: Adam Markovitz criticized the songwriting and production as lacking artistic distinctiveness, while noting enjoyable moments on Problem and Bang Bang
• New York Daily News: Jim Farber said the constant shifts between styles interrupt any sense of flow
• The Guardian: Caroline Sullivan praised the vocals but found the songs indistinct
• The A.V. Club: Annie Zaleski found the album well constructed and designed to succeed, with limited room for depth

Reappraisal

• More than three years after release, Grande's kneeling pose on a stool from the cover suddenly went viral on Twitter
• The pose spawned memes, a challenge many people took up to recreate it, and international press coverage

Records

• Debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling over 160,000 copies in its first week and 169,000 copies in its ending week
• Grande earned her second consecutive US number-one album
• Number one in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Norway and the United States
• Top five in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom
• Certified multi-platinum in Canada, Denmark, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States
• RIAA quadruple platinum in 2014 for four million album-equivalent units
• Nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015
• Won Best 3 Albums (International) at the Japan Gold Disc Awards in 2015
• Worldwide sales of 1.8 million copies as of December 2014

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The lead single Problem broke numerous digital sales records upon release, and reached number two on the US Billboard Hot 100.
• Grande first let fans vote on the single's cover artwork before its release.
• On September 5, 2014, Grande performed the title track on the Stand Up to Cancer television program in dedication to her grandfather, who had died from cancer earlier that year.
• In Japan, the album remained atop the iTunes Store chart for nine weeks, the longest at number one for any artist in 2014.
• The album was placed at number eleven on Digital Spy's Best Albums of 2014 list.
• The Huffington Post included the album in its list of 2014's best releases.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact