The album explores themes of romance, sexual intimacy, unhealthy relationships, womanhood, anxiety, and perseverance through hardships.

It was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and topped charts in other countries including Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Work on Sweetener commenced around early July of that year, the first song created being the title track, co-written and produced by Pharrell Williams.

[12] The following day, Grande announced the album's lead single, "No Tears Left to Cry" and revealed the release date to be April 20, 2018.

[13] Grande appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she announced that her album was titled Sweetener and that it would be released that summer.

[15] In late May 2018, she announced that the album would feature fifteen tracks and three collaborations, which are Missy Elliott, Nicki Minaj and Williams.

"[26] In an interview with Zach Sang, Grande said: "The thing that I love most about this project sonically, is that all I really did was sing in my sweet lower register".

[27] The album begins with 38-second a cappella intro, "Raindrops (An Angel Cried)",[28] written by Bob Gaudio, and originally performed by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

[32][33][34] Grande sings the lyrics "The light is coming / to give back everything the darkness stole", over a "jittery beat" used with quick drums and synths,[35][36] and a heavily sampled CNN archive clip of a man shouting at former senator Arlen Specter at a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania in 2009 concerning healthcare ("You wouldn't let anybody speak for this and instead!").

[37][38] Israel Daramola described the song as a "glitchy, thumping" dance record with a sample that highlights Grande's "nursery rhyme-style melody"[39] "R.E.M."

[42] The fifth track "God Is a Woman" contains lyrics about female sexual empowerment[43] and spirituality;[44] Time described the song as "an anthemic, sultry banger.

[49][51][52] The Independent called the song an "emotional highlight" and that it is a "mental health bop over a good, solid pop beat.

[26][64][65] "Get Well Soon" is a soul-ballad that has a laid back R&B melody with lyrics that talk about Grande's personal anxiety and trauma following the Manchester Arena bombing.

[66][67] In a 2018 interview with Zach Sang, Grande mentioned she had recorded over 30 songs for the album that did not make the final cut,[68] including "On Top of Everything".

The cover of the album's lead single, "No Tears Left to Cry", features Grande's side profile lit by a rainbow and the title of the song written in rotated, upside-down text.

The cover of the album's only promotional single, "The Light Is Coming", which features Nicki Minaj, is an upside-down picture of Grande.

[79] On August 8, 2018, three dates were announced for a series of promotional concerts in the United States, titled The Sweetener Sessions, in partnership with American Express.

[82] A concert film titled Ariana Grande: Excuse Me, I Love You, is based on the tour and was released on Netflix on December 21, 2020.

"The Light Is Coming", featuring Nicki Minaj, was released on June 20, 2018, along with the pre-order of the album as the only promotional single from the record.

[91] Reviewing for Vice, Robert Christgau called the album a "garden of sonic delights" and wrote: "Grande is pleasant in such a physically uncommon and technically astute way.

[95] In The New York Times, Jon Pareles said the singer's voice "can be silky, breathy or cutting, swooping through long melismas or jabbing out short R&B phrases; it's always supple and airborne, never forced.

… [The producers' approach lets] Grande's easy way with trap phrasing find a home next to her flair for Broadway-esque dramatic runs"; it combines "the sensual romance of the album's plentiful love songs and the aching heartbreak of the others."

[25] Kate Solomon of The Independent commented that with music that is "often unexpected, sometimes in a good way, it is an album by an artist in flux – trying to move forward while reluctant to fully relinquish old ideas.

[97][98][99][100] Writing for NME, Douglas Greenwood deemed the album "[a] confident, accomplished, sometimes left-field collection of pop bangers, proving that she's not shy of experimentation."

"[64] Neil McCormick in The Daily Telegraph felt that "the quality of the songs is high, although there are moments when they might be trying too hard to demonstrate that the teen queen is all grown up now," and argued, "as modern, branded, blockbuster pop albums go, Sweetener is a delightful confection."

He commented less favorably about guest rappers Nicki Minaj and Missy Elliott, who "sound like they dialled in clichéd verses for a pay cheque.

[118][119][120] Elias Leight of Rolling Stone declared that Sweetener "proved trap was the new pop" with the collaborations with Williams, Martin and Salmanzadeh.

Leight stated "the mass embrace of the trap template demonstrates the remarkable extent to which a once-niche style now rules modern production".

[121] In Billboard's opinion, "while [Grande's] peers and predecessors find themselves victim to changing tastes and trends within the pop landscape, Ariana continues to rise untouched above them".

[136] The same week, Grande ascended to number one on the Artist 100 chart, due to strong album sales and song streams.