The 2 Exes Ariana Grande Let Listen To "Thank U, Next," Early Might Surprise You
Ariana Grande has done it again. Less than an hour before Pete Davidson was going to appear on Saturday Night Live for the first time since their breakup, Grande dropped the breakup anthem to top all breakup anthems with the single "thank u, next." The bop name-drops four of Grande's exes: Big Sean, Ricky Alvarez, Pete Davidson, and Mac Miller. But did Pete Davidson know about "thank u, next"? Maybe not, according to some background details Grande provided on Twitter.
Grande starts off the song by naming some of her exes. "Thought I'd end up with Sean," she sings, "but it wasn't a match. Wrote some songs about Ricky, now I listen and laugh." (Ricky Alvarez is the guy she was dating when that whole donut-licking thing happened.) Then she name-dropped her two most recent exes. "Even almost got married, and for Pete I'm so thankful. Wish I could say 'thank you' to Malcolm, 'cause he was an angel." Don't even talk to me about that line about Mac Miller. I'm not ready, nor will I ever be!
The next part of the song breaks down everything her past relationships taught her that have made her "so amazing" now, and then, in the chorus — and please don't doubt that I cackled when I heard this — Grande basically hits her exes with a "k, byeeee!" when she sings, "Thank you, next. I'm so f*cking grateful for my ex." And she spends the rest of the song singing about how much she loves herself. Oh my lord, do I love this woman. We stan a queen who writes a breakup bop about self-love and empowerment!!
Now, other than completely freaking out over this instant classic of a breakup bop, fans are kind of geeking over Big Sean and Ricky Alvarez being mentioned in the song.
It's been a minute since they heard anything about her relationships with them.
One fan's tweet joking about Big Sean and Alvarez hearing their names on the track got a response from Grande.
The fan tweeted, "Sean and ricky hearing they names in thank u next" with a GIF of Chris Rock looking hella confused, but Grande revealed in her response that she had Sean and Alvarez listen to the track before she dropped it.
"They heard it before it came out," she said with a black heart emoji and a smiley face.
And now fans are losing it even more over this little nugget of truth.
The tweet Grande responded to was only about Sean and Alvarez in the first place, so it's possible she did let Pete Davidson listen to it before she released it as well and that tweet just doesn't mention him.
Davidson had no ill will toward Grande during SNL on Nov. 3.
During his bit on "Weekend Update," he said of his breakup with Grande,
The last thing I will say is I know some of you are curious about the breakup, but the truth is, it's nobody's business. And sometimes things just don't work out, and that's OK. She's a wonderful, strong person, and I genuinely wish her all the happiness in the world.
This came barely an hour after Grande dropped "thank u, next," and just days after Grande seemingly subtweeted about Davidson due to an SNL promo clip.
Davidson appeared in the episode's promo with Jonah Hill and Maggie Rogers, the host and musical guest for that week. In the clip, Davidson jokingly proposed to Rogers as a way of making fun of his engagement to Grande.
Grande was not pleased.
In a tweet that has since been deleted, Grande said, "for somebody who claims to hate relevancy u sure love clinging to it huh." She then tweeted the words "thank u, next."
Two days later, she dropped the song minutes before SNL went live. Never has an ex been so quickly rendered irrelevant! Thank you, next!
