Ariana Grande - Break Free ft. Zedd (Official Video) [+ Review]

 The latest dance/pop pairing to release a new music video (scroll down to watch) is, of course, Ariana Grande and Zedd, with their video to 'Break Free' finally landing in a particularly intergalactic fashion. Grande and Zedd's video is undeniably campy in nature, with particular throwbacks to the retro age, with funky colours and out-of-this-world themes, with references to space and science fiction films. Grande has also said that the video was inspired by the 1968 film Barbarella (of which her previous duet partner Iggy Azalea is also a fan of). 

Grande also said Star Wars and space in general was used as a reference point for the video, which sees Grande whipping out her laser gun to defeat aliens and rescue her comrades. We were waiting for the video to come out so we could also do a mini round-up/review of the song itself, which doesn't sound dissimilar to something Robyn would make (which is never a bad thing). 

'Break Free' is a mix of synths, dance-pop and electro-pop, and with Zedd on the track, the production and beats are pretty top-notch. There's also a distinctly EDM-style feel, and this is something new for Grande, and its refreshing to see her branching out into different styles of music, especially after her popular collaboration with Ms Azalea on 'Problem'. Of course, Grande's vocals are particular potent and powerful on the track, soaring above the rhythmic beats to chime out the chorus at an impressive volume. One criticism of the track (and it just niggles at us a little bit) is the obvious forced rhyme 'Now that I've become who I really are'. Need we say more? 

Aside from this grammatically incorrect sentence, we favour the changes in tempo and the different shifts in styles combined with Grande's voice and the collab with Zedd, make this a particular powerful addition to the singer's discography. This one could be one of the anthems of the late summer months (and it's a shame it wasn't released earlier as to maximise on the popularity), and we're all for a bit of 'girl power', so we're pleased to hear the empowering message. The video itself is, as we said, very retro and fashioned on old-style movies, with a pretty epic prologue in the form of scroll-text, in the usual omniscient sound of prologues (similar to Star Wars), and it's obviously meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek and cheesy. 

It's interesting to see a different style of video (and obviously with the additional feature of Zedd in the video) which incorporates different themes into the MV, and unites them into a sort of nostalgic homage to the retro era with intergalactic themes. Overall, the song is suitably catchy and (although we're not a fan of grammatically incorrect sentences) Grande seems to be on a winning streak following the release of 'Problem', whereas this seems to be another hit for Zedd, whose previous collaborations with artists like Hayley Williams, were particularly notable.