​imagine

​imagine

Ariana Grande

“imagine,” the first promotional single from thank u, next, is about an unattainable love that is “now and forever” unreachable. The track has been described to be the opposite of “thank u, next,” which has a central message of self-empowerment.

Although it’s not confirmed, the inspiration for “imagine” likely lies in the death of Grande’s ex-boyfriend Mac Miller, who passed away from a drug overdose shortly after the two parted ways. This could suggest the song is about the unattainability of their love now that Miller has passed. Many of the lines in this track also mirror Mac’s 2016 track “Cinderella”, which was confirmed to be about Ariana.

The track was teased in the music video for Sweetener single, “breathin,” similar to what she had done before with the “no tears left to cry” music video.

Interestingly, Ariana continues to associate her music to her exes, as the cover art designer for the single was her ex-boyfriend and backup dancer, Ricky Alvarez. He keeps it pretty simple, black and white with these characters on it – 想像. These translate to “imagine” in Chinese and to “imagination” in Japanese.