Thank U, Next

About

Thank U, Next is a song by pop singer Ariana Grande. The song finds Grande recounting her times with previous ex-boyfriends Big Sean, Pete Davidson, Mac Miller, and Ricky Alvarez and declaring she's grateful for her exes. The song's lyrics spawned multiple memes, including a misheard-lyric that many thought implied Grande was in a same-sex relationship.

Origin

On November 3rd, 2018, Ariana Grande surprise-released "thank u, next," the title track of her upcoming album. The track is about recent breakups and finding peace with herself. In the track, she names her recent ex-boyfriends and talks about coming to peace with herself.

Spread

Critics appreciated how Grande inverted the usual, spiteful narrative of the breakup song and found Grande finding peace. Writing in a "Best New Music" review of the track on Pitchfork,^[1] Quinn Moreland wrote:

"she doesn’t stir the pot about her recent breakup, as the common media narrative might expect; instead she finds the value in letting go. It’s a generosity rarely spotted these days, when it is so much more tempting to clap back with vinegar instead of honey. Much like the “one girl swaying alone” twist in Lorde’s “Liability,” it’s an eloquent display of inner strength and incisive self-awareness; "thank u, next" embraces a rare mindset that perhaps not so many people, let alone famous pop stars, grant to their exes. The high road might not be the easiest path, but Grande offers to lead us there by her own example.”

"Aubrey" Misheard Lyric

In "thank u, next," when detailing a new relationship, Grande sings, "But this one gon' last / 'Cause her name is Ari," implying that she is focusing on herself.

However, many misheard the lyric as stating "Her name is Aubrey," which would imply Grande had entered a same-sex relationship. When Apple Music uploaded the track to its streaming service, they provided the misheard lyric. This prompted Grande to correct the service on Twitter (shown below).

Twitter users joked about the misheard lyric as though Grande had entered a homosexual relationship. User @sbstryker posted an image of the Jenners mocking their own inability to understand the lyric, gaining 420 retweets and 4,111 likes (shown below, left). User @visionsofgrande posted an image of Shrek joking about the lyric, gaining over 280 retweets and 3,600 likes (shown below, right). The jokes were covered by Preen and Elite Daily.

One Taught Me…

In the pre-chorus of the song, Grande sings, “One taught me love, one taught me patience, and one taught me pain.” Twitter users joked about this lyric by tweeting it along with three pictures representing the ones who taught them love, patience, and pain. These were usually characters from pop culture. For example, @ryanbloomquist tweeted the three male leads from Mamma Mia 2, gaining over 7,000 retweets and 26,000 likes (shown below, left). User @ayoedibiri made the joke with the Shrek films, gaining over 7,500 retweets and 31,000 likes (shown below, right). The jokes were covered by Daily Dot.^[2]

Music Video

On November 30th, 2018, the music video for "thank u, next" was uploaded to YouTube. Within four days, the video received more than 93 million views (shown below).

Kris Jenner Video Taping

Following the videos release, many online began posting image macros and jokes about reality television star "Kris Jenner's":cameo in the music video in which Jenner parodies Amy Poehler's scene from the film Mean Girls] Jenner tweeted the video with the caption, "I'm not a regular mom, I'm a cool mom." The tweet^[4] received more than 22,000 retweets and 113,000 likes in four days (shown below, left). Some compared her appearance to a similar Jenner-inspired meme You're Doing Amazing Sweetie (shown below, center). Throughout the day, people continue to post images and memes of the moment (shown below, right).

Twitter user @boujeeslut tweeted a video of the moment with the audio "thank you, next, bitch" dubbed over the video. The post received more than 37,000 retweets and 116,000 likes in four days (shown below). Additionally, Twitter published an Events Moments page about the memes.^[5]

Search Interest

External References