“Thank You, Next”… Level

Ariana Grande Breaks the Internet

Ariana Grande in her "Thank You, Next" music video (courtesy of marieclaire.com).

Ariana Grande in her “Thank You, Next” music video (courtesy of marieclaire.com).

Harley Johnson, Editor-in-Chief
December 11, 2018

On Friday, November 30 Ariana Grande released the highly-anticipated music video for her self-love and breakup single “Thank You, Next”.

Grande had social media buzzing when she released behind the scenes pictures of the video. She had some inspiration for a video idea. The video combined 4 popular early 2000s teen movies: Mean Girls, Bring It On, 13 Going On 30, and Legally Blonde. While bringing these movies together, it also brought some celebrities together through cameos. According to Billboard.com, there were many familiar faces to help bring the video to life. Some of these cameos including:

  • Colleen Ballinger, Youtuber, famous for her character Miranda Sings.
  • Troye Sivan, singer, famous for his covers on Youtube and his hit singles.
  • Kris Jenner, momanger of the Kardashian/Jenners.
  • Johnathan Bennett, actor, famous for his role as Aaron Samuels in Mean Girls.
  • Stefanie Drummond, actor, famous for her role in Mean Girls.
  • Jennifer Coolidge, actor, famous for her role in Legally Blonde.
  • Elizabeth Gillies, actor, famous for her role in Nickelodeon’s Victorious.
  • Matt Bennett, actor, famous for his role in Nickelodeon’s Victorious.
  • Gabi DeMartino, Youtuber, famous for her impressions of Grande.

Many recognized these cameos, but not everyone got all the references Grande made throughout the video. Some of these references include The UPS delivery guy, The Burn Book, what happened between her and ex fiancé Pete Davidson, “Thank You, Next” is everywhere, Mac Miller tribute, a book entitled “Immigration and Refugee Policy,” a cassette tape with “To Ari. From Ari” on it, and etc (marieclaire.com). Many of these references were either specific to 1 of the 4 movies or Grande’s personal experiences and/or beliefs.

The video was directed by Hannah Lux Davis. Davis has worked with many popular artists and has filmed many record-breaking music videos; Grande was her latest record-breaking music video (forbes.com). Davis has worked with Grande in the past and says the idea for this video came when working on another video with Grande in New York.

Grande’s single “Thank You, Next” was her first single on Billboard 1oo and has broken records,  being on the Billboard 100 for three weeks straight and the first woman to be in this position since Adela with “Hello” in 2015, but the music video has also broken records. According to billboard.com, it broke the YouTube Premiere Record with 55.4 million views in 24 hours.