https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai Exploring appeals for persuasive rhetoric en-us 2019-05-16 13:58:21 UTC 2025-09-26 11:10:51 UTC hello@padlet.com brockdon_lawhead https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/361190081 Subject:
"God is a woman" has a very specific subject within its lyrics. Simply put, Grande states that women have the center of the universe inside of them. Women are the sole 'creators' of life and have instinctive qualities that keep the world turning. This comes along with the fact that society, especially in modern times, seems to gather around and pursue women for 'what is inside'. Grande sees this as a reason women are so powerful, in that they have control over their bodies and what they do with them. The world is truly their oyster when they decide what to do with themselves and their bodies, as all life seems to be continually obsessed with it.

Occasion:
While "God is a woman" does not follow a specific timeline, it does describe a particular moment. In the lyrics, Grande is continually seducing her lover with various different appeals that result in her success. She appears to be successful, alluding to their sex as a religious experience, in which the end game is her lover believing that God is a woman, hence, the title of the song.

Audience:
The audience intended for "God is a woman" is both open to interpretation and fueled by speculation. The lyrics of the song insinuate a new lover, or in general a lover, of Grande's that is about to experience the female form and all of its beauty, but only to whoever Grande deems worthy. The song was written towards the end of her 4th album 'Sweetener''s particular process, 2 days before she played the whole album for her record label (Horowitz) . This is where speculation enters the picture. Before the release and finalizing of her album, she began a whirlwind romance with her now ex- fiance, Pete Davidson. This fuels to the speculations made from the lyrics that he is the presumed 'new lover' Grande describes in her lyrics.

Purpose:
The purpose of "God is a woman" is for Grande to tell her lover that when "all is said and done" they will believe that they have transcended and are in the presence of God herself, as their sex was almost a religious experience. Grande's purpose extends to tell her lover that it is not a one way street in this love affair, but that "boy if you confess, you might get blessed", showing that their love, and more specifically, love-making, can truly be a beautiful thing between the partnership. They key word in this statement is partnership, where Grande attempts to set a precedence of women taking ownership in their relationships. In the same lyrics such as "boy if you confess you might get blessed", it implies that she, as the woman in the relationship, holds the power of how the relationship unfolds, which Grande finds empowering.

Speaker:
The speaker for "God is a woman" is very clearly and apologetically, Ariana Grande. Through a series of tweets, Grande explains that the song is for and about all women and the power that they have inside of them, but Grande is no doubt telling the story from her perspective (Grande). Her specific audience in who the song was most likely written for clearly shows that. 

Tone:
The tone of the song can be summed as modern, mystic, and feminine. Beginning with modern, the song contains qualities of a popular niche in modern music, which is trap music. Trap music is generally characterized by crisp snare drums over a simple instrumentation and a heavy bass line. "God is a woman" follows this almost to the dot. Tying in with the mystic theme, an airy and echo induced electric guitar is introduced in the beginning of the song. This is actually brought in with an effect that slides into the guitar, giving the effect of transcending or traveling to the universe in which Grande is in the center of. As for the rest of the mystic theme within the song, the build up to the final chorus after the second verse has an effect that makes it sound like the instrumentation and bass line are trying to break out from behind a wall. As Grande ascends to the top of her glass-shattering falsetto range, the instrumentation unleashes with it, showing the power behind the mystique of a woman. This leads into the final component for the tone of the song, which is feminine. The song is apologetically female through and through. Grande utilizes many vocal techniques that emphasize her strengths and power as a female vocalist, which also establish her legendary status in this song. Beginning the first chorus 'leaning' into her declaration of God being a woman, to her strong lower register in the verses, to her breathy pre-chorus build, it all shows the versatility and power of a woman from every aspect. This all leads to the climax of the song where Grande begins with her aforementioned falsetto, into her high register belts. These give a lot more physical weight and depth to her statement than before, as it doubles over the melody line and shows how she seemingly has no limit within herself. Finally, the song's ending section consists of a gospel sounding choir that consists of Grande's voice layered many times over in harmony with each other. This not only sets a powerful tone in terms of melody and vocal prowess, but gives the impression that women, if joined together, either in themselves or with each other, are a power like no other. ]]> 2019-05-17 14:14:12 UTC https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/361190081 brockdon_lawhead https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/362576880 Grande appeals to her lover, letting him know that by the time they have made love, he will believe God is a woman. Logically, she follows a path in the chorus of why this is true. “You love it how I move you, You love it how I touch you”, then goes on to describe her own feelings and how that plays into the way her lover feels. “I feel it after midnight, a feeling that you can’t fight, my one, it lingers when we're done/you'll believe God is a woman". This path of logic, so to speak, finds Grande explaining to her lover that because she knows him like the back of her hand, knows everything he loves, and that their love gives off a feeling that is simply irresistible, that by the time that they have made love, he will believe that he is in the presence of God. In the pre-chorus of the song, Grande establishes herself as an authoritative figure, almost creating an ethos appeal, but uses logic again to establish in her argument of claiming God's gender in means of showing her lover how she feels. Lyrics such as "an' I can be all the things you tell me not to be/when you try to come for me I keep on flourishing/an' he see the universe when I'm in company/it's all in me" paint the picture of Grande truly placing herself on a God-like pedestal in the eyes of her lover. This, like the previous example, leads straight into how he will believe 'God is a Woman'. ]]> 2019-05-22 14:58:41 UTC https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/362576880 brockdon_lawhead https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/362576976 Grande spends the verses of the song telling her lover that she sees how special he is and that if he goes with her, he will be blessed. This is a pathos appeal because it is appealing to how she makes the lover feel emotionally. By continually seducing him, continuing with the theme of flipping standard gender roles. She effectively tells her lover that she thinks he is very special and that they would be very good together with lyrics as “You aint got a one track mind” “Aint nobody else can relate/boy I like that you aint afraid”. She continues this in the second verse with lyrics, "But you different from the rest/and boy if you confess you might get blessed/see if you deserve what comes next", that not only distinguish her lover as unique to Grande, but that he still must prove himself worthy of Grande's love and dedication. This is insinuated by "if you confess, you might get blessed" which Grande alludes to one of two things. The first being giving her love and intimacy to her lover, the second being a child as women are the only humans who can carry life, as has been mentioned before.]]> 2019-05-22 14:58:58 UTC https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/362576976 brockdon_lawhead https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/363780377 Ariana Grande acting as the speaker attempts to tell her lover that she has the power in their relationship and if he gives himself to her, they shall be in such ecstasy, they might as well be in the presence of God herself. She uses the appeals of logos and pathos in the lyrics and the appeals of ethos and pathos in the video to get the message across. In analyzing the lyrics and video, it appears that their use of appeals is effective in convincing their intended audience.]]> 2019-05-27 15:52:50 UTC https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/363780377 brockdon_lawhead https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365192120 Ethos appeals within the music video]]> 2019-06-03 04:29:41 UTC https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365192120 brockdon_lawhead https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365192345 2019-06-03 04:32:20 UTC https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365192345 brockdon_lawhead https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365192682 2019-06-03 04:35:26 UTC https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365192682 brockdon_lawhead https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365192773 Pathos appeals within the music video]]> 2019-06-03 04:36:14 UTC https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365192773 brockdon_lawhead https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365194839 2019-06-03 05:01:28 UTC https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365194839 brockdon_lawhead https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365195287 “Ariana Grande – ​God Is a Woman.” Genius, Genius, 13 July 2018, genius.com/Ariana-grande-god-is-a-woman-lyrics. 


]]> 2019-06-03 05:06:00 UTC https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365195287 brockdon_lawhead https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365195496 2019-06-03 05:08:24 UTC https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365195496 brockdon_lawhead https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365196187 Horowitz, Steven J. “Ariana Grande's 'Sweetener' Producer Breaks Down Its Key Tracks: 'This Is a Career-Defining Album'.” Billboard, Billboard, 27 Aug. 2018, www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8472238/ariana-grande-sweetener-producer-savan-kotecha-interview.]]> 2019-06-03 05:14:31 UTC https://padlet.com/brockdon_lawhead/w3cq822dq6ai/wish/365196187