Ariana Grande. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
Check in on your Arianator friends today because Ariana Grande has officially launched her next music era with the release of her new single “yes, and?”
The singer was MIA from the charts while she channeled Glinda the Good Witch for the highly-anticipated Wicked movie, but now that filming has wrapped, it’s time for Ari’s next era to begin.
Aside from a featured track in the 2021 film Don’t Look Up, “yes, and?” marks Ariana’s first music release since her 2020 album Positions, which featured hit singles like “34 + 35” and “POV”.
Taking a sharp turn from that album, which was heavily R&B influenced, “yes, and?” is an undeniable house-dance track.
Before the single dropped, there had been whispers that “yes, and?” would be partially inspired by Madonna’s hit record “Vogue”. Now that it’s out, Ariana stans all agree that Queen Madge’s influence is definitely there.
Fans are already obsessed with the dance track, but there’s one line in particular that has them on the floor.
During the bridge, Grande goes full “Vogue” by straying from the melody and speaking. In those 30 seconds, Ari comes for just about everyone who has had something negative to say about her in the past 12 months.
The lyrics are: “My face is sitting, I don’t need no disguise/ Don’t comment on my body, do not reply.
“Your business is yours and mine is mine/ Why do you care so much whose d*** I ride?”
Last April, Ariana Grande posted a video to TikTok asking fans to stop commenting on her appearance and comparing it to how she has looked in the past. The singer said at the time that she had been inundated with comments about how her body looked unhealthy in recent photographs compared to older photos.
She had said at the time: “I know personally, for me, the body that you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body. I was on a lot of antidepressants and drinking on them and eating poorly. And at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider my ‘healthy,’ that in fact wasn’t my healthy.”
The Grammy winner kindly asked her fans to be “gentler and less comfortable with commenting on people’s bodies.”
Later in the year, Grande was embroiled in controversy when it was rumoured that she was dating her Wicked co-star Ethan Slater, after splitting from her husband Dalton Gomez.
It came to a climax when Slater’s ex-wife Lilly Jay allegedly confirmed the relationship to Page Six, and didn’t have great things to say about Grande.
While neither Grande nor Slater has commented on said rumours, the pair have been photographed out together on numerous occasions.
It would appear that Grande is well aware of the public reaction to last year’s drama, but she’s not here for anyone’s judgement.
Elsewhere, fans can’t help but agree that “Yes, and?” is like the sequel to Beyoncé’s Renaissance that they didn’t know they needed.
Fans have a few hours to learn every word to Ariana’s new song before the music video drops later today.
As for the album, Arianators will have to hold out a little longer before the pop star drops the official release date.
Let the new era begin!