Date of Award
12-2025
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Music
Department
School of Music
First Advisor
Samantha Inman
Second Advisor
Stephen Lias
Third Advisor
Benjamin Morris
Fourth Advisor
Emily Milius
Abstract
This thesis analyzes the narrative of Ariana Grande’s 2024 concept album eternal sunshine in relation to the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Chapter 1 contextualizes the album and its related media, including music videos, additional album releases, a short film, and interviews with insights from Grande. Chapter 2 realizes Peaches as the narrator of the album, demonstrates how the lyrics of each track of the album connect to the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and establishes the framework for vocal timbre analysis in the rest of the paper. Chapters 3 through 5 analyze how vocal layering and vocal timbre contribute to three stages of the album’s narrative. Chapter 6 synthesizes these findings to demonstrate how Grande’s choices regarding vocal timbre and layering in eternal sunshine expand and clarify the story of Peaches, deepening the narrative past what the lyrics alone could provide.
Repository Citation
McQuaid, Emily, "Discovering Eternal Sunshine: Storytelling Functions of Vocal Timbre and Layering in Ariana Grande’s 2024 Album" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 650.
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/650
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
