Now, yes! Ariana Grande is back. The American diva has returned in style almost four years after releasing her album Positions. She has done it with yes, and? a song where Ariana Grande’s incredible voice merges with a dance melody that reminds us of the clubs of the nineties. Specifically to that Vogue with which Madonna fell in love with an entire generation. And no wonder, Ari drinks directly from pop culture, takes it and molds it to give it a new meaning.
The artist has reunited with Ilya and Max Martin to tell a story of overcoming where the star, as if she were Mister Wonderfull herself, tells us her own version of “if life turns its back on you, then touch its ass.” She does it in the same chorus where she sings “And if you find yourself in a dark situation just turn your light on and be like‘Yes, and?” (And if you find yourself in a dark situation. Turn on your light and be like. ‘Yes, and?’)
But it doesn’t stop there, Ariana, who hides a biting tongue and is not afraid to smack her haters, also sends a message to all those people who have given their opinion in recent months about her private life (she separated from Dalton Gomez and began a relationship with Ethan Slater, one of her co-stars in the musical. Wicked): “Your business is yours and mine is mine
Why do you care so much whose dick I ride? Why?” (Your business is yours and mine is mine. Why do you care so much about who I fuck? Why?).
Like all of Ariana Grande’s releases, the star has gone all out in her new video clip. And no wonder, her fans have been waiting for this moment for three years. We analyze the video clip to understand everything Ariana Grande wants to tell us. And the singer is very into sending us messages.
We analyze the video
The video, ddirected by Christian Breslauerbets on an incredible choreography calculated to the millimeter where a petrified Ariana Grande becomes human to the delight of music critics, who arrive at an empty studio to learn about the singer’s new work.
The singer, as if she were a gargoyle from the famous 90s animated series (a reference that we wouldn’t be surprised if Grande had taken considering how much of a lover she is of animation), wakes up from her slumber. Making it clear that her music break is over. That’s when she starts dancing for the critics, those with whom she has had a love-hate relationship for years and whom she wants to impress.
Furthermore, the singer’s most die-hard fans will have noticed that the statues that appear behind her before she wakes up have the postures with which she posed on the covers of Yours Truly and MyEverything.
It is also no coincidence that Ariana Grande’s presentation in the video clip goes from less to more. The first shot we see of the singer is her legs. The camera pans up until we see the whole thing. Of course, she doesn’t show her face at first, covered by a beret. A metaphor for her media absence from her last years? When we start to wonder if she’s really going to show her face, Ari takes it from her and shows it to us in defiance. It is she who decides what she wants to show us and at what time.
At the back of the room, we also find some stairs that go nowhere. There are many arinators who are saying that it is a nod to her song Sweetener and her video clip, where the singer walked down steps that went nowhere.
Ariana Grande likes to put names of her upcoming singles in her songs. In this way, we would not be surprised if the American star had given us a clue about her next song. Will it be Baby Doll? Like the words that appear in her hand written in a moment.
a lot of dancing
It is no coincidence that Ariana Grande has opted for dance for this comeback. The American star has been rehearsing dance for more than a year to bring her character of Glinda to life in Wicked and it would have been a wasted opportunity not to record a fully choreographed video based on her new knowledge as a dancer. No sooner said than done!
A tribute to Paula Abdul and Cold Hearted
But if there is a clear tribute in this video to someone, it is Paula Abdul. And the entire video is directly inspired by the one the artist recorded in 1988 for her song Cold Hearted.
Paula, like Ariana, surprised a group of critics in a studio by dancing with a group of artists. Now, 25 years later, Grande has done the same.
