Millennials born in the early 90s have already survived and made it to shore, while some are still currently drowning in the waters of astrology’s most difficult cosmic transit. No one is immune to the turbulence of one’s Saturn Return (this marks when the planet Saturn returns to the sign and degree, it was in when you were born between 27 and 30 years),  even if you are possibly one of the most famous pop stars on the planet. 

Ariana Grande’s over a decade-long career lore is a mystifying and confusing space to navigate, as she has been a victim of false headlines, endless digital media scrutiny, and abuse being duplicated in images by the second in all different variations: memes, Twitter threads, TikToks and Reddit message boards. She’s one of the first female pop stars to navigate the new digital ecosystem for celebrities, a machine that thrives on crucifixion and abuse, mostly at the hands of men.  If it’s not her body, it’s her relationship, if it’s not her relationship, it’s mental illness.  Every young person through history has struggled with discovering oneself in private, but how can you figure out who you are when you are being torn apart in front of a billion cameras? It’s no surprise Grande shares a water sun-sign with Princess Diana, who rebelled and redefined what celebrity looks like by using vulnerability as her biggest super power.

Eternal Sunshine, her 2024 album was a tribute to her love for the film it was named after, telling us a heart crushing story where she plays a narrator role as the pop-star version of her (yuh),  some listen to the record and hear a break-up narrative about a tumultuous lover and all the stages of grief. Others experience her in conversation with her self, in a shadow-work session exploring all the darker layers and burning them away.  Remember, this is all happening simultaneously while the conception of her childhood dream, and biggest manifestation yet – playing a revolutionary spin of Glinda, in the film adaption of broadways’ beloved Wicked.

Themes of alchemy and reclaiming the power of one’s self are more apparent and lucid in the cinematic exploration of her new deluxe album’s world, the debut short film ‘brighter days ahead,’ was written and directed by Grande with Christian Breslauer. The macabre music video movie begins with a 1-800 stylized ad celebrating the CEO of Brighter Days inc. (played by Grande’s real dad) promoting a new technology deep in the future. Ariana soon reprises her role as ‘Peaches’ , (who we last saw in the ‘we can’t be friends’ music video) but this time at grandma-age, in a wheelchair with a hearing aid. She’s at a dystopian corporation where her memories are being stored, being taken into a screening room where she can watch 4 saved memories one last time before they are destroyed forever.

MEMORY 1/SONG: ‘intro (end of the world)’

In the first memory we see Peaches/Ariana hybrid watch 90s/2000s home movies of her as a child, carefree and reflecting on the fragility of one’s early life.  By your late 20s, when a Saturn Return hits – you have enough distance from your adolescence and childhood to for the first time in your life feel true nostalgia, and not some concept. It’s not easy to accept how fast your life is moving as you grow older, and it can be shocking to think of all that has already happened. This can create symptoms of emptiness, fear, and being lost. The agony is essential.

MEMORY 2/SONG: ‘eternal sunshine’ and ‘dandelion’

In the second memory sees Peaches in a circular stage, mirroring her early life as a pop star but with her robotic movements, dissociative eyes it seems that at the height of her worldwide sold-out arena fame, she is the most disconnected from herself. The outfit gives tributes to Ariana’s 2016/2018 era.   When we make success our number one goal, or we have people around us pushing us to reach a certain space, we can be burned out and tired. This is a common occurrence for people in their late 20s, who have to stop, pause and assess if chasing one’s dream is truly worth it in the end? Can our goals be accomplished from a state of abundance and inner peace instead of pain and scarcity?

MEMORY 3: ‘twilight zone’ and ‘supernatural’.

In the third memory, Peaches wakes up in a house in a silk white dress that seems to be damaged and broken, floods and all. As she walks through the destroyed home, in confusion  – she finds a necklace in the water from her past and puts it on her neck.  When we are trying to figure out who we are, we have to time-travel back to the worst versions of ourselves and try to figure out: “What was going on, when I made that decision?”  In the end, we can’t leave everything behind, the locket represents the diamonds we do take when we dig deep into our traumatic memories and mental terrains.  When Peaches leaves her house, onto the street she sees a dystopian world burning to flames (2020s America?)  – and then something catches her eye, a ufo who in white light beams her up to a new dimension. She seems mediative, open to this opportunity. This is the movie’s mission statement in a scene:  The only reason Saturn is said to force us to confront our unconscious wounds is to bring us to our next level, to take us to a higher, bliss filled space that is bigger and better than who we were in our torrid 20s.

MEMORY 4: ‘hampstead’

In the fourth and final memory, the doctor and father of Peaches is seen in a noir-reality where he plays some kind of surgeon who is trying to piece his daughter, laying dead on a surgery board back together.  Sewing human parts of her back together, in desperation to bring her Peaches to life, he puts her heart back inside and as soon as he gives up/has a mental breakdown from seeing no results. She does come back to life, and runs to the piano to celebrate which creates some energetic field that heals her with every stab at the keys. In the final moments, we see a healthy a version of Peaches in harmony singing as her dad plays the piano.  An incomplete headline burns during the final shot, reminding us that the things we think about others is not the full truth.  Parental wounds are for 99% of us, the root source of the low self-worth that powers up all our self-destructive decisions in our teen/early 20s, but nothing beats the liberation and freedom of undoing the toxic mental programming we grew up with and if we have the privilege, forgiving and building a relationship with that parent can be one of the most purifying gifts in the end.

In the harrowing finale, where Peaches’s ‘reliving’ session is complete, we see her with her hand on her chest, in awe at the story of her life.  Before the credits roll, another home movie of little girl-Ariana gives us sweet childlike wisdom about laughing at the concept of the cliche of living everyday like the last day of our lives.  We can take our wounded child off the wheel but still keep them close to our heart, and on our team as we grow old, and hey, after this Saturn Return journey, you just simulated through ‘brighter days ahead’ – I’m sure adult-you will be running to the app store and downloading a ‘mindfulness’ meditation app. Let’s be present.