Ariana Grande Lived Out Your 2000s Rom-Com Dreams Behind The Scenes Of "Thank U, Next"
Hours after the visual accompaniment to Ariana Grande's "Thank U, Next" broke YouTube and Vevo records, the songstress took to Twitter to take her fans inside the making of the chart-topping video, which is modeled after the best romantic comedies of the early 2000s. In the clip, a pink marabou-clad Grande introduces her Arianators to her "first number one single" before she attempts to perfect the "bend and snap," hugs Jennifer Coolidge (aka Paulette), and models some of the most iconic scenes from Legally Blonde. If you loved the music video, you're not going to want to miss this, because the "Thank U, Next" behind-the-scenes video shows Ariana Grande living the Elle Woods life, and I couldn't be more jealous.
Early on Sunday, Dec. 2, Grande headed to Twitter to show fans that while the "bend and snap" move made famous by the 2001 cult favorite film Legally Blonde might not have been that easy to nail, she had a whole lot of fun trying to perfect it. Simply captioned with a black heart, the behind-the-scenes video shows a montage of scenes playing homage to Legally Blonde and Mean Girls, and the best part of the whole thing is the "God Is A Woman" hitmaker showing her team how the "bend and snap" is done. TBH, it's no wonder that the OG Elle Woods, Reese Witherspoon, shared her approval a few days earlier, although Grande admitted that she had to slightly tweak the move for legal reasons.
After Witherspoon revealed that Grande had passed the test with flying colors on Friday, Nov. 30, tweeting "Can we please talk about @ArianaGrande's Bend and Snap?! 10/10 nailed it! #thankunext," the 25-year-old was basically all of us with her fangirl response.
She wrote:
Omg we tried to put our own twist on it so legal wouldn’t come for us but THANK U. this is the biggest honor. love u more than words.
Even if it wasn't quite the same as the original, I think we can all agree that she completely nailed it.
"Thank U, Next" made headlines on Saturday after YouTube revealed that the music video set a new record for the most views in the first 24 hours of its release (FYI, Grande managed to break the all-time record in just 22 hours). The unprecedented success of the music video was due, no doubt, in part to the mysterious teases on social media that the "Side To Side" songstress had been sharing for weeks. Especially in the days leading up to the drop of "Thank U, Next," Grande shared cameos of Mean Girls actor Jonathan Bennett and stills that hinted that the video was an homage for all our favorite romantic comedies, helping drum up the excitement for the music video into a full-blown frenzy.
It's further proof that sometimes heartbreak can lead to your best work, and while "Thank U, Next" was penned shortly after the starlet's breakup with then-fiancé Pete Davidson, it looks like Grande had a whole lot of fun getting her closure and is ready to say "next."
