My Everything is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Ariana Grande. It was released on August 22, 2014, through Republic Records. Grande worked with a host of producers and co-writers on the album, including Max Martin, Shellback, Benny Blanco, Ryan Tedder, Darkchild, Ilya Salmanzadeh, Zedd, and David Guetta.

Grande sought for My Everything to sound as "an evolution" from her debut album Yours Truly (2013), exploring more mature and diverse lyrical content and musical styles. Primarily a pop, R&B and electropop record, it expands on the 1990s retro-R&B and hip hop style of its predecessor, while also approaching new genres such as EDM, and dance-pop. Iggy Azalea, Zedd, Big Sean, Cashmere Cat, Childish Gambino, the Weeknd, and ASAP Ferg make guest appearances on My Everything, while Jessie J and Nicki Minaj appear on the deluxe edition.

My Everything charted at number one in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Norway, and the United States while reaching the top five in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The album also received multi-platinum certifications in Canada, Denmark, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It received generally favorable reviews from music critics, appearing in year-end best-music lists of 2014. At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015, My Everything was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album.

My Everything was supported by four singles, all of which reached global success. The lead single, "Problem", broke numerous digital sales records upon release, and peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100. The second single, "Break Free", reached number four in the United States. The third and fourth singles, "Love Me Harder" and "One Last Time", peaked at numbers seven and thirteen, respectively, with the latter reaching number two in the United Kingdom. The deluxe version also features the single "Bang Bang", which reached a peak position of three. Aided by My Everythings singles, Grande attained the most top ten hits for any artist in 2014 on the Hot 100. To further support the album, Grande embarked on the Honeymoon Tour in 2015.

Background and recording

Grande's debut studio album, Yours Truly, was released on August 30, 2013, and was met with critical acclaim. Later that month, she began writing and working on her second studio album and had already completed two songs. Recording sessions began in October with Grande working with previous producers from her debut album Harmony Samuels and Tommy Brown. In January 2014, Grande confirmed she had been working with new producers Ryan Tedder, Savan Kotecha, Benny Blanco, Key Wane and Max Martin. Grande stated in late February that she wanted to name her album after a song she had finished that weekend that is very honest and makes her cry.

In March, it was announced that Grande would be featured on the fifth single from Chris Brown's album X titled "Don't Be Gone Too Long", and it was originally set for release on March 25; however, it was postponed to April due to Brown being sent to jail awaiting trial on assault charges. On March 17, Grande held a live stream to make up for the single's delay, where she previewed four new songs from her then upcoming second studio album. Two days following the announcement, Grande revealed that due to the song's delay, she would be releasing the first single from her upcoming second studio album instead. She finished working on the album in late May 2014, confirming the title of the album (to be My Everything) and the release date (to be August 25) on June 28. The photos for the packaging in the album were taken on May 27. Grande stated that she chose the cover artwork because she felt that "each song is so strongly themed that I just wanted to have a very simple overall cover. So that within each song we could create more visual themes."

Music and lyrics In My Everything, Grande focuses on her sound of pop, R&B, and electropop. Its tracks include tunes of EDM, hip hop and piano-driven ballads, described by Adam Markovitz of Entertainment Weekly as "lyrically bland, sonically inoffensive, and artistically empty". Rolling Stone author Rob Sheffield depicted My Everythings tracks as a "confident, intelligent, [and] brazen pop" songs that combine bubblegum pop vocals with EDM-influenced productions. The album revisits the 1990s retro-R&B style present in Yours Truly; Annie Zaleski from The A.V. Club described the album as a "slick throwback to melodramatic '80s and '90s pop". According to Pitchforks Meaghan Garvey, it places greater emphasis on upbeat and dance-oriented songs than the ballad-driven approach of Yours Truly, reflecting a "refreshingly grown-up".

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that My Everything marked a more contemporary musical direction, as Grande collaborated with a wide range of modern producers and guest artists throughout the album. The record alternates between themes of heartbreak and sexuality, while occasionally revealing more personal moments; it explores ballads and more emotionally earnest material in the songs like the title track and "Love Me Harder". My Everything also revisits relationship-centered themes such as resisting unwanted partners, coping with breakups, and navigating idealized romances in "Problem", "Best Mistake", "My Everything", and "Only 1".

Songs My Everything opens with "Intro", in which Grande addresses her fans: "I'll give you all I have and nothing less." The second track is the lead single "Problem", a dance track filled with saxophone sounds, jazz and funk. Rap-Up described the track as an "infectious horn-heavy jam" that features a "carefree" Grande "declaring her independence". It includes "an empowering verse from Iggy Azalea and a whispering Big Sean on the hook." "One Last Time" is a dance-pop and EDM-light song. The album continues with "Why Try", co-written and co-produced by Ryan Tedder and Benny Blanco and features the lyrics "Now we're screaming just to see who's louder". Some critics expressed an opinion that the song has a similar composition with American singer Beyoncé's "XO" (2013; also produced by Tedder).

The album's fifth track is "Break Free", which infuses the sound with electro genres. In an interview with Billboard, Grande described the song as "fantastic and super-experimental for [her]", as most of her previous work had been more urban and R&B-driven, stating: "I never thought I'd do an EDM song, but that was an eye-opening experience, and now all I want to do is dance." The album's first of three ballads, "Best Mistake", features Big Sean. Jason Lipshutz of the same publication described it as "a moody ballad that grows stickier upon each listen", stating that it "carries a tidy collection of impressive production details, the momentary string stabs among them". Musically, it is a minimal R&B and hip-hop piano ballad lament that utilizes instrumentation from strings and a drum machine. It tells a story about a couple trying to "make up their minds about the future of their relationship, with deep affection buried underneath their problems." "Be My Baby" featuring Cashmere Cat is an R&B track, compared with American singer Mariah Carey's songs. The eighth track is "Break Your Heart Right Back"—an R&B number featuring Childish Gambino. It is about a cheating boyfriend and samples Diana Ross's "I'm Coming Out", including vocals and guitar.

"Love Me Harder", featuring the Weeknd, is a mid-tempo synthpop and R&B song, which starts small before its "'throbbing', electro-heavy chorus", with a guitar riff, while "big vacuum-esque synths zip" can be heard throughout the track. Rob Copsey wrote for Official Charts that the song reminded him of Canadian rapper Drake at his most emotional. Lyrically, the song has Grande demanding romantic satisfaction, using double entendres about BDSM. "Just a Little Bit of Your Heart" is the album's second ballad, co-written by Harry Styles. Copsey compared the eleventh track, "Hands on Me", featuring ASAP Ferg, with Rihanna's "Cockiness (Love It)" (2012) and Azalea's "Fancy" (2014). Lipshutz described "Hands on Me" as "an out-of-left-field banger that removes Grande from her teenybopper phase and finds the 21-year-old discovering her inner Rihanna with lines." The title track concludes the standard edition of the album on a somber note, recalling "Intro", and concerns Grande's struggles to regain the solid footing she once had with her partner.

The first bonus track on the deluxe edition, "Bang Bang", featuring Jessie J and Nicki Minaj is an uptempo, pop-infused soul song that features a "clap-heavy" production built over "big bouncy beats and horn blasts". The next track "Only 1" was described by Billboard as "short, snappy and sumptuous" and "a light confection that succeeds due to its busy, intricate percussion". The deluxe edition of My Everything concludes with the track "You Don't Know Me", with Grande "giv[ing] a whole new meaning to not judging a book by its cover", according to Kelsie Gibson of Bustle.

Release and promotion

On June 28, 2014, Grande announced that My Everything would be available for pre-order through her website. Those who pre-ordered the album would get exclusive access to Grande's iHeartRadio concert stream that held on August 24, where she performed songs from her album live for the first time. Grande embarked on her first world tour titled the Honeymoon Tour, in support of the album which began in February 2015. In the weeks preceding the release of My Everything, several previews of songs from the album were released; on July 7, Grande posted a teaser of "Best Mistake" onto her Instagram page, featuring rapper Big Sean. On July 27, a preview for "Be My Baby" was filmed at a concert of featured artist, Cashmere Cat.

Twenty days before the album's release, Grande released a preview of "Love Me Harder", which features Canadian recording artist the Weeknd, onto her Instagram profile. On August 20, four songs from the album, "Why Try", "Be My Baby", "Love Me Harder", and "Just a Little Bit of Your Heart", were released courtesy of MTV. On August 24, Grande opened the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards with "Break Free" and then later appeared to perform "Bang Bang" with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj. Following her performance on the show, My Everything was released on August 25. During the week of its release, commercials aired on television to promote My Everything as well as the Beats Pill. On August 29, Grande performed "Problem", "Break Free", "Bang Bang", and "Break Your Heart Right Back" on The Today Show. In addition to performing, Grande was also interviewed, forecasted to weather and brought her grandmother for an interview of her own. On September 5, Grande performed the title track from My Everything during the Stand Up to Cancer television program in dedication to her grandfather, who had died from cancer earlier that year.

Singles