The sound of positions is lite and heavenly, buoyed by plucked harps and string sections that twitch over fizzy beats like insect wings. For a pop star who reached a breakthrough in the last few years by boldly turning herself into a character in her own songs, Ariana Grande spends much of the album blissfully zoomed out, navigating its luxurious atmosphere with precise, gentle R&B hooks. She closes on a personal note with “pov,” a highlight that punctuates the previous tracks’ seductions with a different kind of intimacy. Over a quiet arrangement flourished with cello and viola, she considers whether all the love she feels can reflect inward. “I wanna love me the way that you love me,” she sings. “I’d love to see me from your point of view.” For that last line, she follows a descending melody like a narrow staircase as the music quiets around her. On an album that can feel like a romantic dream sequence, it’s the solitary, anxious sound of the real world finding its way back in again.