TIA: Ariana Grande surprised fans with an
emotional single about self-love on "thank u, next."
TIA: Produced by Crazy Mike, Scootie, and
TBHits, the track references Ariana’s most
public romantic relationships over the years, and she is not shy about name-dropping her exes.
TIA: First, she mentions rapper Big Sean,
who she dated for 8 months back in 2014.
The two even collaborated on a number of songs
together.
TIA: Then, she namedrops Ricky Alvarez, who
she dated in 2015 and possibly dedicated a
few tracks like “Moonlight” and “True
Love,” to.
He was also involved in the donut incident
of 2015.
TIA: Ariana and Mac Miller were in a two year
long relationship that ended in 2018,
though the pair remained friends.
TIA: In September 2018, Mac Miller passed
away from a reported drug overdose.
TIA: Ariana’s recent engagement to comedian
Pete Davidson started in the spring of 2018
after a short period of dating, and ended
in mid-October.
TIA: The couple’s relationship was highly
publicized, and one of the tracks on her fourth
studio album, ‘Sweetener’ was even titled
“pete davidson.”
TIA: And even though she and Pete sparred on Twitter
in October, Ariana says “thank u, next”
is about positivity and empowerment after
a breakup. On Twitter, she said quote:
TIA: This line sparked a lot of conversation online
after a few fans thought Ariana was
saying “Aubrey.” But the singer took to
Twitter to clear everything up.
JIMMY: Yeah, you say ‘part’ but when you
sing you say PAAAHT.
ARIANA: I’m working on the pronunciation
thing it’s a recurring problem.
TIA: Ariana even references her parents’ own relationship and their divorce when she was a child.
TIA: The track was released on the night of
Saturday, November 3rd, right before an episode
of 'Saturday Night Live,' where Pete Davidson
is a cast member.
PETE: Hey Maggie, I'm Pete.
MAGGIE: Hey Pete.
PETE: You wanna get married?
MAGGIE: No.
PETE: 0 for 3.
TIA: Fans were all over the new single.
And on Twitter, Ari revealed that her fifth
studio album would also be titled ‘thank u, next"
and her plans for an upcoming music
video for the track “breathin.”
TIA: In the days following its release, the
song shot to the top of the Genius song chart,
with over 2 million pageviews.
TIA: If you want to learn more about “thank
u, next,” check out the song page on Genius.com.
TIA: I’m Tia with Genius News bringing you
the meaning and the knowledge behind the music.
