On July 31, Ariana Grande released her highly anticipated album Petal alongside a music video for the title track — and it’s quite literally the embodiment of female rage. And no, it’s not about an ex — it’s about her “fans.”
The “Petal” music video opens on what appears to be a flower growing through a Hollywood Walk of Fame star. Then we see Grande’s new character for the Petal era, Pepper, walk past the flower and into an audition. After waiting in a room of other women, Pepper performs for a panel of executives (who are all men, mind you), who write notes like “lovely voice, very kind — but nothing special” before marking her audition sheet with a massive, red “not good enough” stamp. As she leaves, the flower from the pavement begins to wilt.
Pepper returns to the audition room again — but this time, she’s wearing a skin-tight, all-black outfit (à la Sandy in Grease). Despite trying to please the executives with her newly-acquired image, they still mark her as “not good enough,” writing in the notes that she’s wearing too much makeup and has “no sex appeal.” Again, the flower outside continues to lose petals as she walks past.
After that, Pepper leaves the audition and comes back in a new outfit, only to be denied again. Finally, she returns in the same outfit she originally appeared in. But as she sings, she’s interrupted by the executives. And that, my friends, is when the music video takes a bloody good turn — literally.
After interrupting Pepper, the executives thank her for coming in, but tell her that her newest audition “fell flat.” One of the executives go on to tell Pepper that she gives off a feeling that is “unmarketable,” “unattractive,” and “inauthentic.” He then tells her that he misses the way she “used to be” and accuses her of having some kind of “personality disorder.”
As Pepper tries to speak up and defend herself, another executive tells her that she should go out and “find” her old self before coming back and giving the audition another shot. Once the executives are done berating Pepper, she thanks them and walks away… and returns with a chainsaw.
For the next minute, we watch as Pepper slaughters the executives with the chainsaw before walking out of the room covered in blood. The other women waiting are, at first, silent. But, eventually, they break out in applause and cheer for Pepper. As she walks out, the receptionist says to her, “Good for you, b*tch.”
We then see Pepper sitting in a Chinese restaruant, where she reads a fortune cookie with the words, “You bloom wherever you are planted.” As the camera pans out, however, we find out that the entire video has taken place on a set, and that Pepper has been the star all along. And, at the end, the petal growing from the pavement is in full bloom.
The Meaning Of the “Petal” Music Video has to do with Ariana Grande’s fans.
It’s not a stretch to say that Grande is really tapping into her rage in the “Petal” music video. And while the video is incredibly cinematic (someone book Grande in a horror movie, STAT), it also comes with a deeper meaning.
On social media, viewers have been theorizing that the video is a jab at Grande’s “fans” who demand too much from her and are constantly critiquing her — whether it be her changes in clothing, makeup, musical styles, or career — and depicting them as the executives who are dissatisfied with her. One fan wrote in the comments of the video, “The judges being her ‘fans.’ This music video is truly symbolic. I can’t wait for what else she has to come!!!”
Most notably, Grande seems to be sending the message that she’s done with the people who want the “old Ariana” back. (Because what does that even mean, anyway?) “Love that she’s addressing those ‘I miss old Ari’ b*tches,” one fan wrote in the comments of the video. “People are meant to evolve, she’s evolving and if you’re not happy, allow it to be your problem not hers.” Period.
Fans also believe that Grande being depicted as an actress at the end of the video is symbolic of where her career is heading. After Grande’s success with Wicked — where she was nominated for an Academy Award — she’s been working more and more in film and television, hosting Saturday Night Live, and starring alongside Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller in Focker In-Law, which is set to release on Nov. 25. She really can do it all, can’t she?