Ariana lets her singing do the talking

Ariana Grande—SMART MUSIC LIVE

Strong,” “irreverent,” “free,” “ferocious,” “sensual,” “soft,” “female.”

These were the words flashed onscreen, superimposed on a montage of Ariana Grande images.

On it, the pop singer, wearing dance tights and glistening with sweat, was shown splayed on the floor, whipping her hair, arching her back and crawling on all fours.

Yes, she could be all those things, but that didn’t mean, she stressed, that she was “asking for it.”

This was the message she conveyed to her thousands of fans, most of whom are young girls, who filled the SM Mall of Asia Arena for the recent Manila stop of her ongoing “Dangerous Woman” world tour.

But more than an assertion of women empowerment, the said video interlude was, perhaps, also an intimation of how much the former Nickelodeon child star has grown as an artist; of how much more comfortable she has gotten in her own skin over the past few years.

This newfound maturity was instantly discernible in the relatively more explicit themes her latest songs delve into.

With her signature ponytail moving like a wildly swinging pendulum as she strutted about the stage, Ariana cooed that she would rather have “a little less conversation and a little more touch my body” in the catchy dance ditty “Into You.”

And in the innuendo-laced “Side to Side,” a reggae-inflected banger featuring rapper Nicki Minaj, the 24-year-old recording artist sang about a boy whom she was with “all night” and “all day.”

Ariana is no stranger to R&B influences and continues to embrace the genre. But this time, she opted for textured and darker beats over lush melodies, as in the sultry “Let Me Love You,” and in the soulfully dramatic “Leave Me Lonely.”

She likewise flirted with deep house music in “Be Alright,” then reveled in funk in “Greedy”—a groovy dance bop that channeled Bruno Mars or Mark Ronson.

Like in her previous gig in Manila two years ago, Ariana let her singing do the talking.

She possesses a bright and light tone, and could hit and sustain high belts with unblinking ease.

Her voice is also nimble, allowing her to chain intricate runs at will. But despite having a variety of tricks in her vocal artillery, she was wise not to dispense them needlessly.

In numbers that were dance-driven or more focused on creating a particular mood, Ariana tempered her singing and let her voice coast along with the beat. But, once the right moments for her to unleash the vocal pyrotechnics came, she did so, with much aplomb.

It was, however, in the quieter moments that her voice truly shone, like in the whimsical doo-wop ballad, “Moonlight,” which Ariana belted out sitting down, and her impassioned cover of “Over the Rainbow,” which she recently added to her set to pay tribute to the victims of the terror attack that took place during her concert in Manchester, United Kingdom, in May.

The cat-ear-wearing crowd was unrelentingly loud, especially during the show’s third and fourth acts, where Ariana delivered a barrage of hits.

Songs like “Bang Bang,” “Focus,” “Break Free” and “Problem” elicited resounding singalongs, while Ariana—a capable dancer—pulled off flirty choreography, which she punctuated once in a while with either a doe-eyed look over the shoulder, or a smile with her tongue sticking out.

The event, mounted by MMI Live and Smart Music Live, had the usual trappings of a pop concert.

Ariana changed outfits several times; pink balloons rained down; and in mellow moments, the crowd turned into a sea of twinkling lights.

But curiously, Ariana never seemed to have stood directly under a spotlight for prolonged periods; most of the time, she pranced around bathing in a dull neon haze.

In fact, at one point during the encore, she was completely obscured by a thick cloud of smoke—perhaps a deliberate effect to evoke a sense of mystery or, as one of her songs describes, danger.