Thank U, Next

by Tyler Ryder

Art by Ashlee Burroughs

Ariana Grande released the long awaited music video for her single, “Thank u, next.” The music video, released on November 30th, 2018, showcases Ariana singing in a variety of places, including her room, a high school, a salon, and a football game.

The music video is largely inspired by popular movies, with Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, Bring It On, and 13 going on 30 references running the show. The video recreates scenes from each movie, including the burn book scene from Mean Girls.

At the time of writing, the video has gained over 135 million views on YouTube. The video posted of just the song has reached 47 million views. The song itself is about accepting the past, learning from it, and loving yourself. Despite its explicit lyrics, the single tells a powerful message.

It starts off by reminiscing about past relationships with a comment on each one. Grande names off her famous exes: Big Sean, Ricky Alvarez, Pete Davidson, and Malcom McCormick. Grande then describes how they helped her grow as a person, and she’s thankful for each one.

After the chorus, Grande details how she isn’t worrying about anything. She then says she has a new relationship that’s going to last, because it’s with herself. Grande uses the rest of the song to talk about her desire to be married once, and how she’s proud of herself. The music video features a plethora of celebrity appearances that take on the roles of key characters from the aforementioned movies. The big cameos include Jennifer Coolidge, Jonathan Bennett, Matt Bennett, Colleen Ballinger, Elizabeth Gillies, Tayla Parx, Victoria Monét, Troye Sivan, Kris Jenner, Scott Nicholson, Gabi DeMartino, and Stefanie Drummond.

“Thank u, Next” is the first single of Ariana Grande’s next planned album, which has no current release date.