Ariana Grande's collaborators spill behind-the-scenes details about the making of 'Positions'

• Ariana Grande released her sixth studio album, "Positions," on October 30.
• The album was largely created in quarantine with many of the singer's closest collaborators, including cowriter Tayla Parx and production duo The Rascals.
• Insider spoke with these three artists about helping to create seven of the album's 14 songs: "Shut Up," "34+35," "Safety Net," "My Hair," "Nasty," "Love Language," and "POV."
• They also praised Grande's willingness to experiment and her technical expertise.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

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Ariana Grande is happy.

"Positions," the record-breaking pop star's sixth studio album, is overwhelmingly and infectiously optimistic — which feels particularly notable following her watershed breakup record, "Thank U, Next."

"The last album was all Clicquot — long nights and early mornings," Tayla Parx, who cowrote five of the new 14 songs, including the next single "34+35," recently told Insider.

Indeed, even though Grande reassembled much of her Grammy-nominated team during those early months of quarantine, Parx said their group of friends had "made so much growth as people" since the calamitous fall of 2018.

"It's not that everything just completely changed or anything like that. It's just that you grow, you evolve, and you're finding these different coping mechanisms, and you're finding these different ways to reenergize," she continued.

"It's awesome when you can look to the left and right, see the progress that you're making, and see that your collaborators are also making that. And you can hear it in the music as well."

Leon Thomas III, one-half of production duo The Rascals, met Grande when they were both cast on Nickelodeon's "Victorious" as teenagers (as André Harris and Cat Valentine, respectively). He and his partner, Khris Riddick-Tynes, previously produced five songs on Grande's debut, "Yours Truly."

And while The Rascals worked on "Positions" for just two days in the spring, he similarly took stock of Grande's "sparkle" and refreshed, centered energy.

"There was a real sense of this musical community, from Tayla to Victoria [Monét], to Tommy [Brown] and Ariana. We've been building since we were teenagers, and to see it all come back around — it's just really cool to grow with your friends," Thomas said.

"The fact that Ariana is operating [music-editing software] Pro Tools herself, and personally vocal-producing a lot of the songs on this album, was amazing," he continued. "I mean the attention to detail that she can now give to each song has grown exponentially."

"I also think Ariana did an amazing job of controlling the room — being like, 'Hey, you're going to turn the party down. It's time to get busy on this,'" Riddick-Tynes said. "She's telling her story. She had to get comfortable with that."

"Well, there was definitely some wine flowing," Thomas added, laughing.

'Everything just happened really organically'

Back in March, Thomas was in touch with Grande about a virtual "Victorious" reunion when she invited him to hear some new music.

Riddick-Tynes tagged along, laptops in hand. Right off the bat, Grande picked two different beats the duo had been working on. These became "Nasty" and "Safety Net."

"Everything just happened really organically," Riddick-Tynes said. 

"For 'Nasty,' we did that a few months before, and it was just sitting there. But a few days before the session, we pulled it up and began tweaking it and adding that — that bounce was like, 'Man, I wonder if like, DaBaby and somebody could do this. I'm almost debating a DaBaby and Mariah Carey vibe,'" he explained.

"That was one of the ones that we knew, OK, we're going to play her this one. Like, you can shake that a-- to this song," he continued, laughing.

"She made it work and did a phenomenal job. Just hearing her range on that particular record — I mean, she's all the way up there. And it's really great to work with a vocalist who can stretch so much over our production."

The Ty Dolla $ign-featuring "Safety Net" is a bit more sobering: an atmospheric slow-jam that grapples with the competing fear and comfort of a new relationship.

Thomas — who came up with the central lyric, "Tripping, falling, with no safety net" — said the song was inspired by "a conversation about free-falling into real love."

"We both were kind of just geeking out about our newfound loves," Thomas told Insider, referring to Grande's boyfriend Dalton Gomez, whom she's been dating for about 10 months.

"That's really my friend. I mean, we did the four seasons of television together. So, it was just really good catching up on that front," he continued. "And we were able to implement this great energy into the song. We just kind of bottled it up."

Three of the songs that Parx cowrote — 'My Hair,' 'Love Language,' and 'POV' — also provide colorful peeks into Grande's domestic life

Parx said work on "Positions" began somewhat spontaneously, with group hangouts and heart-to-hearts. 

"She started off with what she wanted to talk about — which, for her, is always something that comes from a really genuine place and where she is in life at that moment," she explained. "So we started there with just trying to get out realistically where she is emotionally."

"That's the one thing that I can say about Ariana, is that she really thrives in areas when she is being genuinely herself," Parx added. "She's funny. She sees life from an incredible perspective, you know what I mean? I was always saying, 'I want to hear more of you in your music.'"

True to form, most of the songs that boast Parx's writing also bear unmistakable shades of vulnerability (she was the person who encouraged Grande to name-check her exes on "Thank U, Next," after all).

"My Hair," for example, was inspired by Parx's desire to use Grande's iconic hairstyle as a symbol for intimacy: If you put something on for the world (in this case, hair extensions), then to let a loved one touch what's underneath is a tender sign of trust.

"I feel like it makes so much sense. We've seen the struggle from when she was dying her hair red for that TV show on Nickelodeon, and then to the ponytail — she's really had an evolution with her hairstyling," Parx explained. "As a writer, that's the type of thing that I specifically try to dive deeper into."

"I wanted to describe her personality and her being, but using this very visual thing that we all know her for — besides the voice, of course — to add more identity into her tracklist."

"Love Language" was also inspired by conversations about affection and understanding.

The title of the song itself refers to "The Five Love Languages," a 1992 book by Dr. Gary Chapman. The concept aims to help couples communicate more effectively by recognizing how each person prefers to give and receive love.

"When you can learn the way that somebody communicates — and the way that you communicate, by the way — it's a lot easier to be able to get through whatever," Parx explained. "My love language is definitely acts of service."

She added that Grande's primary love language is "definitely" physical touch.

"She needs to hear it, she needs to feel it and see it," Parx said. "It's the Cancer in her."

But for Parx — and many fans, judging by reactions on Twitter — the album's emotional summit is the final track, "POV." It's the "Residue" singer's personal favorite.

"I just know I've seen the growth in her with her relationships, with herself, and all of those different things. It's a song that I knew just needed to be said," Parx explained.

"I just love the vulnerability in it. I love the vocal performance, of course. But I think lyrically, hearing something raw like that — and it just came so naturally as well."

—black boy bulletin (@theblackboyblog) November 1, 2020

Most songs on 'Positions' began with melodies, rather than lyrics

The first song written for the album was the opening track, "Shut Up," largely penned by Grande and Parx alongside producers TBHits, Mr. Franks, Travis Sayles, and violinist Peter Lee Johnson.

Parx said they began with the hook and originally weren't sure if it should be an interlude, or even included on the album at all. But they were sold by the song's heavenly orchestra of vocals and harmonies.

"Personally, I wanted to hear her sing on this album," she explained. "I wanted those moments where we had that reminder of what an extremely incredible vocalist she is. 'Shut Up' is one of those moments."

Grande similarly told Zach Sang that one of her goals for this album was to flex her voice more, rather than simply "making fun bops."

"Ariana as a writer is melodically driven, and then the lyrics usually come after," Parx explained. "Her ear goes towards these things that are really beautiful. That's my thing, too. Growing up, I was listening to the pretty R&B and pop melodies of the '90s."

Often, Parx said, Grande would be compelled to continue layering vocals and instruments "until we couldn't figure out any more."

"You can always bring it back down," she said, laughing. "But you might as well just take it all the way first, you know what I mean?"

"I mean, why do a regular arrangement if you don't have to? I think that this is a time to really explore," she continued, noting the offbeat outro of "Love Language" as an example.

"You have an artist that's brave enough to do things like that and really say, 'OK, let's try to break another boundary.' Let's try to take something else that used to not be normal and make it normal, so that we can keep pushing music forward."

"That's what the studio is for. The studio is to experiment and make mistakes," Parx concluded. "It's to build things and to have accidental discoveries that you end up loving. And that's what she does."

"Ariana constantly redefines what it means to be just true to yourself as an artist. It doesn't really matter what people say. If they like it, great. If not, I mean — like we said on track one, shut up."

• Read more:
• REVIEW: Ariana Grande finishes first on her new album 'Positions'
• Every reference and Easter egg you might have missed on Ariana Grande's new album 'Positions'
• The 17 best and 17 worst Ariana Grande songs of all time
• Tayla Parx has quietly shaped modern pop music. Her new album is her biggest statement yet.