thank u, next
Ariana Grande
On the lead single and titular track to her fifth studio album, thank u, next, Ariana Grande discusses themes of self-love, growth, and empowerment after a breakup. She also references her most public romantic relationships over the years and does not shy away from name-dropping in the process.
The song was released on November 3, 2018, minutes before an episode of Saturday Night Live aired. In a promotional clip, cast member and Ariana’s ex-fiancé, Pete Davidson, made a joke about the two’s failed engagement. Once she was made aware of the clip, she expressed her disgust in a since deleted tweet, writing:
for somebody who claims to hate relevancy u sure love clinging to it huh
She then followed her post with another, tweeting the phrase that would become her new mantra in 2018:
“thank u, next” debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Ariana’s eleventh top-ten entry and her highest charting single to date, surpassing her Iggy Azalea assisted single “Problem,” which peaked at #2 in 2014. Additionally, it was the first song by a lead female artist to debut atop the US charts since Adele’s “Hello” in 2015.
The music video for “thank u, next” was released on November 30, 2018, and is directed by frequent collaborator Hannah Lux Davis, who has previously worked with Ariana on videos for “breathin,” “Side to Side,” and more. The video interpolates iconic early-2000s movies Mean Girls, Bring It On, Legally Blonde, and 13 Going on 30, and features cameo appearances from celebrities including Kris Jenner, Troye Sivan, as well as Ariana’s former Victorious co-stars Daniella Monet, Elizabeth Gillies and Matt Bennett, among others. The music video became a huge success, accumulating more than 55.4 million views in its first 24 hours, becoming the biggest-ever global debut for a music video on YouTube. It would go on to break another YouTube record for the fastest video to reach 100 million views.