With bad autotune, lyrics that make no sense and an even worse beat, Monopoly by Ariana Grande and Victoria Monet is in no way a bop.
Listen, before you Ariana stans come for me, I love Ari just the same as you so hopefully you can see how disappointed I am with this song.
Ariana and Victoria dedicate this song to the fans, it’s written right on the cover. I just gotta say it, IF IT’S GONNA BE FOR THE FANS MAKE A SONG ABOUT THEM AND NOT ABOUT YOU. There’s even a line in the song that goes, “Matter fact, I don’t care where you been.” (Maybe I’m taking this a little too personal lol but damn Victoria okay I don’t care where you been either.)
After “Breakup With Your Girlfriend I’m Bored” and “7 Rings,” which by the way are both BOPS, I get it Ariana, you have a lot of money.
I’m super proud of her making her way up to the top, but damn I don’t need another song telling me how successful you are. (Another side note, successful was one of the best songs off Sweetener.)
The autotune is horrible. I understand the chill vibe and I appreciate how fast they can produce a song but there could have been other ways to make this song better. If you take out the autotune, remove the extra vocal layers and slow the tempo down, just imagine how much better that would sound. It would be purely their own vocals with no modifications and we all know the power of their voices.
Now let’s quickly talk about the music video. I would love to point out the homie who’s top comment says, “When Ariana spends too much money on 7 Rings.”
Photo Courtesy Youtube
I love the concept of using old video cameras to shoot for the aesthetic. I would have loved to see Ariana and Victoria shoot the whole video just from the two video cameras that they were holding. It got way too confusing when it switched to outside shots of them holding the cameras, and then to another scene with a high definition camera with Donte Colley as a dancer. Shoutout to Donte Colley, he is known for his positive motivational dances on Instagram with funny editing. I think that the editing of the video, which is how Donte edits his, with the use of moving text and emojis was funny and added to the chill vibe of the song, it didn’t correlate with the use of the old video cameras. The music video made no sense, the outfits made no sense, and it left me so confused.
Photo Courtesy Elle
I was really looking forward to this song and for a couple of reasons. Ariana and Victoria were both hyping it up on Twitter, and so far all of her newest songs and her latest album were Billboard hits. I expected more from Queen Ari but I believe she will deliver later on. Instead of playing Monopoly, maybe Ariana and Victoria should play SORRY! Instead and write another song that is really for the fans.