This afternoon, Ariana Grande released the highly anticipated music video for her hit song “thank u, next”. After teasing the video all week on her social media and even giving a behind the scenes preview, fans were ready to break the internet as soon as this video premiered. The song talks about recovering from a breakup as Ariana Grande proudly sings, “I’m so f**kin grateful for my ex”. After Ariana’s ex Mac Miller recently passed away from a drug overdose and after she broke off her engagement with Pete Davidson, the public eye is definitely on Ariana. In the video, Ariana references the classic teen rom-coms of Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, 13 Going On 30, and Bring It On to poke fun at the gossip surrounding her romantic life, but also show that she is moving on after the challenges that she has faced.
Here is a recap of all the different movie references employed in the video:
Mean Girls:
The video starts out with a few different people, including Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennet who plays the famous Aaron Samuels, talking about the various rumors and gossip surrounding Ariana’s personal life. Shortly after, it references the highly recognized movie Mean Girls. It shows Ariana, fully dressed as Regina George, writing about her various exes in the Burn Book, and her dressed as Santa dancing in the talent show which is one of the most famous scenes of the movie. During the talent show, there is also a cameo from Kris Jenner, posing as Cady’s mom, who is happily filming her daughter as she performs. Definitely considered one of the best parts of the music video!
Bring It On:
Next, Ariana channels Torrance Shipman in the famous cheerleading movie Bring It On. She is fully dressed in a red cheerleading uniform, similar to the one in the movie, as she performs a routine with the rest of the cheer team. The uniform top reads “TUN” instead of Toros to reference the song title “thank u, next”.
13 Going On 30:
Shortly after, we transition to a wedding scene where Ariana appears with her new short haircut, holding a doll house. In this sequence, she is posing as Jenna Rink from the old time classic rom-com 13 Going on 30. We see her crying as she sits on the front steps with the dream house, which makes a reference to the pain she experienced during these tough times of breakups and loss.
Legally Blonde:
We get a switch from sad to more upbeat as a Legally Blonde sequence appears next. Ariana poses as Elle Woods, fully dressed from head to toe in pink, walking her dog Bruiser through the Harvard quad. We then see her sitting in the beauty shop with the real Paulette (Jennifer Coolidge) as she talks about different boys in her life and then performs the famous bend and snap.
By the end we get a compilation of the four movies put together as Ariana happily dances and interacts with the cast of her music video. She even sticks up a middle finger to her haters to show that she is doing just fine.
The video ends with our favorite Kardashian, Kris Jenner, saying “thank u next, bitch”
Click here to watch the full video for yourself: