I was having a relaxing night, just lounging in bed on Saturday after a long, busy day. At around 10:45 p.m., I decided catch up on social media and see what I had missed throughout the day. Typical of my Ariana-obsessed self, I clicked on a photo of her on my “explore” page. A quick swipe right led me to a TMZ article that came out at 9:00 p.m. It said that in exactly two hours Ariana would be releasing a new song. WHAT??! My adrenaline was pumping…it was only 10:54 p.m. I waited on Spotify, refreshing the page every 20 seconds or so until it was finally 11 p.m.
I listened to the song, still in shock and so surprised that she randomly released a new song with such little notice and no hype. I can’t recall another artist in the recent past who randomly released a song with two hour’s notice. Of course, the song is amazing – clearly a smash hit! She was able to pull off a surprise release. It appears that she really can do whatever she wants – as she says in the song, “cause her name is Ari and I’m so good with that.” With the song playing in the background, I then checked Ari’s Twitter feed and saw that she has been hinting for about a week about this song. Who would’ve known?!
Anyway, getting to the point of this article… Ari called out lots of people in her life in this song, including her exes, Sean, Ricky, Pete (who she was engaged to just three short weeks before). She even called out her father by saying, “I’ll be thanking my dad, cause she [referring to Ari’s mom] grew from the drama.” She then gave a loving nod to Mac Miller, who unfortunately passed away last month. The most moving line in the song is, “Wish I could say thank you to Malcolm, cause he was an angel.” Ariana clearly spoke from the heart when writing this song. It appears that her breakup with Pete allowed her to let her emotions flow and let all of this out. Some critics are questioning whether this song is offensive to the people she mentions, some in a not so flattering way. Personally, I don’t believe it is, because it is just Ari expressing herself and how she feels through her music. If you listen closely to the lyrics, you will understand that she wants everyone to be able to express themselves in a similar way.
I support Ariana Grande and her song. There is clearly a life lesson behind her song and lyrics. If someone as young as she is can work through the stress and guilt of 22 people dying in a terrorist attack at her concert, Mac’s death being blamed on her, and a failed engagement – all in less than a year and half – we should all realize that we can get through almost anything. Ari’s song reveals that each setback and heartache we face ultimately makes us grow stronger.
Thank U, Next.