K Bye for Now (SWT Live)

K Bye for Now (SWT Live)
A black-and-white photo of a Sweetener World Tour concert, prominently displaying Ariana Grande's left eye through a large screen. On the right side of the image lies handwritten text that reads "k bye for now"; below it is a parenthetical that reads "(swt live)".
Live album by
Ariana Grande
ReleasedDecember 23, 2019
RecordedMarch–October 2019
Length93:17
LabelRepublic
Producer
Ariana Grande chronology
Thank U, Next
(2019) 		K Bye for Now (SWT Live)
(2019) 		Positions
(2020)

K Bye for Now (SWT Live) is the first live album by American singer Ariana Grande. It was released on December 23, 2019, featuring Grande's setlist from her Sweetener World Tour in 2019, which contains guest appearances from Big Sean, Childish Gambino, Nicki Minaj and Zedd. All of its tracks were produced by Grande and Natural. The album reached number 79 on the Billboard 200. On June 12, 2021, CD and vinyl versions of the album were released for Record Store Day.[1]

Background

Grande embarked on the Sweetener World Tour starting in March 2019 to support her albums Sweetener (2018) and Thank U, Next (2019). On October 17, 2019, Grande tweeted a photo of her editing vocal files on her laptop and wrote "about to start coming thru and picking my favorite adlibs / performance moments on this flight ... just in case u want a live album one day". In November 2019, Grande continued to tease the album by sharing more photos onto Instagram of audio files named after different cities she performed in.[2] On December 1, 2019, Grande shared an update on the production of the album.[3]

On December 10, 2019, Grande responded affirmatively to a fan that had asked if a live album would arrive before the year's end. On December 11, 2019, the album was put up for pre-saving on Spotify under the tentative[4] title SWT Live and Grande shared the track listing on her Instagram.[5][6] On December 22, 2019, Grande revealed on Twitter that the album would be titled K Bye for Now and would be released later that night following her final show of the Sweetener World Tour in Inglewood, California.[7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
Pitchfork7.4/10[9]

Dani Blum from Pitchfork gave the album a rating of 7.4 out of 10 stating, "Grande's live album is both a capsule and a capstone, encompassing a nine-month, 102-show tour at what might be the peak of her career."[9]

Commercial performance

K Bye for Now (SWT Live) debuted at number 97 on the Billboard 200. As of June 2020, the live album has sold 4,000 copies in the United States.[10] The album was released to music streaming and digital platforms. The album re-entered the Billboard 200 at number 79 in June 2021, when CDs and vinyl copies of the album were released.[11]

Track listing

All tracks are noted as "live", and produced by Grande and Natural.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Raindrops (An Angel Cried)"Bob Gaudio0:43
2."God Is a Woman"
3:33
3."Bad Idea"
3:32
4."Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored"
3:43
5."R.E.M"
2:57
6."Be Alright"
  • Grande
  • Thomas Brown
  • Victoria McCants
  • Khaled Rohaim
  • Lewis Hughes
  • Nicholas Audino
  • Willie Tafa
2:54
7."Sweetener"
  • Grande
  • Williams
2:54
8."Successful"
  • Grande
  • Williams
2:05
9."Side to Side" (featuring Nicki Minaj)
4:20
10."7 Rings"
3:46
11."Love Me Harder"
1:23
12."Breathin"
  • Grande
  • Kotecha
  • Svensson
  • Salmanzadeh
3:28
13."Needy"
  • Grande
  • Brown
  • McCants
  • Parx
2:54
14."Fake Smile"
3:25
15."Make Up"
  • Grande
  • Brown
  • McCants
  • Parx
  • Brian Baptiste
2:18
16."Right There" (featuring Big Sean)
1:39
17."You'll Never Know"
1:21
18."Break Your Heart Right Back" (featuring Childish Gambino)
2:14
19."NASA"
  • Grande
  • Brown
  • McCants
  • Parx
  • C. Anderson
3:05
20."Tattooed Heart"
3:23
21."Only 1"
  • Grande
  • Brown
  • McCants
  • Travis Sayles
  • Dennis Jenkins
2:42
22."Goodnight n Go"
3:08
23."Get Well Soon"
  • Grande
  • Williams
3:27
24."In My Head" (interlude)
2:30
25."Everytime"
  • Grande
  • Salmanzadeh
  • Martin
  • Kotecha
2:11
26."The Light Is Coming" (featuring Nicki Minaj)
  • Grande
  • Williams
  • Maraj
2:10
27."Into You"
  • Grande
  • Salmanzadeh
  • Martin
  • Kotecha
  • Kronlund
2:59
28."My Heart Belongs to Daddy" (interlude)Cole Porter1:47
29."Dangerous Woman"
3:53
30."Break Free"
2:31
31."No Tears Left to Cry"
  • Grande
  • Salmanzadeh
  • Martin
  • Kotecha
3:53
32."Thank U, Next"
  • Grande
  • Brown
  • McCants
  • Parx
  • C. Anderson
  • Foster
  • Krysiuk
  • Vitia
6:29
Total length:93:17

Notes

  • Live version of "Thank U, Next" contains an excerpt from "Video" by India Arie

Personnel

Production

  • Ariana Grande – vocals, lyrics, composer, production, vocal production, vocal arranger, mixing, engineering
  • Natural – production, musical director, mixing, engineering
  • Randy Merrill – mastering engineer
  • Tommy Brown – composer
  • Mr. Franks – composer
  • Max Martin – composer
  • Victoria Monét – composer
  • Savan Kotecha – composer
  • Ilya Salmanzadeh – composer
  • Pop Wansel – composer
  • Brian Malik Baptiste – composer
  • Babyface – composer
  • The Rascals – composer
  • Pharrell Williams – composer
  • Cole Potter – composer
  • Charles Anderson – composer
  • Nicholas Audino – composer
  • Anton Zaslavskli – composer

Musicians

  • Ariana Grande – vocals
  • Aaron Spears – drums
  • Natural – guitar, keyboard
  • Eric Ingram – bass, synth bass
  • Nelson Jackson – keyboard

Charts

Chart performance for K Bye for Now (SWT Live)
Chart (2019–2021) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[12] 89
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[13] 57
French Albums (SNEP)[14] 109
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[15] 12
Scottish Albums (OCC)[16] 41
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[17] 93
US Billboard 200[18] 79

Release history

Release dates and formats for K Bye for Now (SWT Live)
Region Date Format Label Ref.
Various December 23, 2019
Republic [19]
United States June 12, 2021
[1]
Japan July 14, 2021 CD Universal [20]

References

  1. ^ a b "Record Store Day 2021 Releases". Record Store Day. Archived from the original on December 17, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  2. ^ Will Richards (11 November 2019). "Ariana Grande teases 'Sweetener' live album". NME. Archived from the original on 7 September 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  3. ^ Sajae Elder (1 December 2019). "Ariana shares updates about live album". The Fader. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  4. ^ Ariana Grande [@ArianaGrande] (December 11, 2019). "Ariana Grande on Twitter: "i want it (and the title) to be a lil surprise ... keep me on here long enough tho"" (Tweet). Retrieved December 12, 2019 – via Twitter.
  5. ^ Sodomsky, Sam (December 11, 2019). "Ariana Grande Announces New Live Album | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2019. An exact release date has not yet been confirmed, but you can pre-save the collection on Spotify here.
  6. ^ Rowley, Glen (December 11, 2019). "Ariana Grande Teases 'Sweetener Tour' Live Album Release on Social Media | Billboard". Billboard. Archived from the original on September 8, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  7. ^ Hussey, Allison; Monroe, Jazz (December 23, 2019). "Ariana Grande Releases New Live Album k bye for now". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on September 7, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  8. ^ Neil Z. Yeung. "Ariana Grande - 'k bye for now (swt live)'". AllMusic. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  9. ^ a b Dani Blum (January 7, 2020). "Ariana Grande - k bye for now (swt live) : pitchfork review". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  10. ^ "Ariana Grande's Sales & Streams: Ask Billboard". Billboard. 2020-06-26. Archived from the original on 2020-06-27. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  11. ^ "Billboard Charts". Twitter. 2021-06-21. Archived from the original on 2021-07-08. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
  12. ^ "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 30 August 2021". The ARIA Report. No. 1643. Australian Recording Industry Association. August 30, 2021. p. 6.
  13. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Ariana Grande – K Bye for Now (SWT Live)" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  14. ^ "Lescharts.com – Ariana Grande – K Bye for Now (SWT Live)". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  15. ^ "Portuguesecharts.com – Ariana Grande – K Bye for Now (SWT Live)". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  16. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  17. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Ariana Grande – K Bye for Now (SWT Live)". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  18. ^ "Ariana Grande Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  19. ^ Grande, Ariana (December 23, 2019). "k bye for now (swt live) by Ariana Grande on Apple Music". music.apple.com. Archived from the original on December 23, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
  20. ^ "CDJapan : k bye for now (sweetener Live) Ariana Grande CD Album". cdjapan.co.jp. Archived from the original on 2021-06-01. Retrieved 2021-05-26.