Most of last week, social media was teeming with Ariana Grande fans, and romantic comedy fans, highly anticipating the hit “Thank U, Next” music video. The song was already a bop among girls who were one Ariana Grande track away from abandoning men altogether. The song tracks Grande’s past dating life with exes Ricky, Big Sean, Mac Miller, and Pete Davidson, and although each relationship may have been a painful experience for her, it shows that you can move past the pain and find peace within yourself instead.
Ariana’s year has been a hard one involving terrorist attacks at her own concert, an engagement that was called off, and the death of her ex-boyfriend, Mac. While the first verse talks about these experiences, the chorus is an anthem for what she learned through them and acknowledges that these experiences made her better. The pop singer then goes on to talk about how she’s happy being in a relationship with herself right now.
The video was produced to pay homage to romantic comedies that feature strong female characters and include Mean Girls, Bring It On, Legally Blonde, and 13 Going on 30. Ariana portrays herself in iconic scenes from all of the movies, showing her strong, independent side, embracing her sexuality, and showing what self-care truly looks like. The song has already helped her in breaking both Spotify and YouTube records and has been critically acclaimed by many, including the original actors in the romantic comedies that “Thank U, Next” portrays, including Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo.
“Thank U, Next” is the 2018 self-love anthem, and we here at Her Campus Carthage were inspired to make this our first theme for our 5 Days of Giveaways. Check out our Instagram to enter to win our self-care #SurvivalKits!