Behind every Ariana Grande hater is a stan just waiting to bust out.
Shortly after Grande, 30, dropped “Yes, And?,” the lead single from her forthcoming seventh album, she shared an accompanying music video that amplifies the song’s self-empowerment message.
The visual starts with a handful of bitter critics complaining about how they liked her when “her ponytail was a few centimeters higher.” One hater deadpans, “Who cares if she’s happy? I don’t want happy. I want art.”
When the curmudgeonly group walks into a room, they pass an excited throng of sweaty, jubilant people. The critics then observe a series of statues of dancers, including one of Grande herself. When the song kicks in, the statues crumble, and Grande makes her entrance.
As the choreography continues, the critics are swept up by the song’s energy. Grande approaches the group and invites a few to join her troupe, and they dance along. As the happy, sweaty critics dance their way out of the room at the end of the clip, another group is led in for their Ari-fication session.
“Yes, And?” is a house track powered by self-love that comes off as a nod to Madonna’s “Express Yourself” and “Vogue.” Grande’s hat at the start of the video is similar to the one worn by Janet Jackson during her Rhythm Nation era. Billboard, meanwhile, noted that the video incorporates elements from Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted.” In the 1988 visual, Abdul also performed on industrial scaffolding to a group of dismissive critics.
Fans searching the video for Easter eggs might notice that the location of the dance party is 41.0359 N – 71.9545 W, which is somewhere in Montauk, New York. The location is a key plot point in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the 2004 film where Jim Carrey attempts to erase his memory of a former lover. Fans have since started calling Grande’s still-untitled new album Eternal Sunshine, as Grande is a fan of Carrey’s and she’s recently experienced big changes in her personal life. (After splitting from husband Dalton Gomez last year, Grande sparked a romance with her Wicked costar Ethan Slater.)
In her new song, Grande references the notoriety surrounding her divorce and subsequent relationship with Slater, 31. “Don’t comment on my body, do not reply,” she sings on the track. “Your business is yours and mine is mine / Why do you care so much whose d–k I ride?”
