New Delhi, Aug. 1 -- After spending the past few years immersed in the theatrical world of Wicked, Ariana Grande returns to music with Petal, an album that feels like a deliberate departure from the carefully polished Glinda persona audiences have come to associate with her.

This is not Grande the theatre kid, performing for the back row. It is Grande the pop star, standing still long enough to examine the scrutiny surrounding her - and quietly pushing back against it.

Petal, her eighth studio album, is a compact 12-track project that moves through love, heartbreak, fame, public judgement and the exhaustion of being expected to remain a particular version of oneself. The record was released on 31 July through Grande's BabyDoll Music imp...