There is a lot of nuance one could take from Ariana Grande’s 2018 hit “thank u, next”, especially with her nods to popular empowering movies and mentions of her past relationships. However, for one to fully understand the extent of these meanings, one must not have only kept up with Ariana’s career since she began singing, but also be well versed in early 2000’s movies (which unfortunately, this writer is not). That being said, “thank u, next” still offers much to analyze, even if you just look at what the music video offers without the subtext of cultural history.

In the video, we are first introduced to Ariana through high school gossip, with multiple students either idolizing her or spreading rumors about who she is. While this can just be seen as a humorous take on a typical high school scenario that the majority of watchers would be able to relate to, I believe that it serves a much larger thematic roles as well. This bit of exposition can be seen as a critique on society’s current worship of celebrities, where fans and media (or in this case, the students) not only worship these superstars to an unhealthy degree, showcased by the student getting pregnant just to be able to be pregnant when Ariana was, but collectively decide who said superstars are by controlling the rumors of them, and deciding which ones are “reality” by spreading and believing in them. While the rest of the song is about Ariana taking control of her life, this scene showcases how powerless celebrities can be in deciding “who they are”, or rather who society believes they are.

After this setup, Ariana begins to bring up her previous relationships, and more importantly discusses the concept of “losing” someone in a breakup. She goes on to say:

“One taught me love,
One taught me patience,
And one taught me pain,
Now, I’m so amazing,
Say I’ve loved and I’ve lost,
But that’s not what I see,
So, look what I got,
Look what you taught me,”

These lyrics seem to directly contradict the standard understandings of breakups, in which it is an event where both sides not only lose a partner, but seemingly lose a part of themselves. Ariana challenges this, looking at everything she learned from these relationships, and drawing a conclusion that she’s more whole now than she was before the relationship, even if she no longer has her partners. She tries to shift the view of breakups to be a chance of growth and realization, and not of defeat and self-pity. Even better, she takes ownership in this growth, and doesn’t let it leave when her partner does. She hasn’t loved and lost, but instead she’s loved and she’s learned.

Through these relationships, Ariana reveals that she’s most grateful for the fact that they lead her to her true love: Ariana. Where in the past it seems like the attributed her relationships to her growth, the song shows she reached a point where she can now rely on just one person to teach her love, to teach her patience, to handle her pain, and to make her amazing. She only needs herself for this growth now,  and while she’s grateful for her exes, this shows a transformation in how viewed relationships now versus in the past. To her, there will be no one that can replace “Ariana”, because she’s the only one that can truly make her feel complete.

Taking a step back, this can also be directly applied to the beginning of the video. While Ariana has been shaped by public opinion and fans in the past, this song is almost a declaration that she’s reclaiming her image for herself. After years of controversy, like the infamous donut incident and things more serious like being attacked for Mac Miller’s drug addiction, she decided to no longer feed into the celebrity worship machine any longer, claiming that she’ll forever be thankful for the fame and her fans, but she has found new way to find self-worth: simply loving herself.