Ariana Grande basically flipped off her haters and won over her critics in the music video, but in real life?
Ariana Grande’s much-awaited return to the music scene after 4 years has begun with her release of her newest single, “yes, and?” on January 12, 2024, and needless to say, it was a hit. The track has topped numerous charts worldwide and still has the top spot on the Global Spotify chart with 6.797 million streams.
Apart from the track serving as an opening salvo to her upcoming 7th studio album, “yes, and?” has also served as Ariana Grande’s response to the criticisms and allegations being thrown around surrounding her relationships and private life.
If you need some reminding of what the tea surrounding Ariana Grande was about, well we’d have to go all the way back to July of last year.
In July 2023, Ariana Grande announced her split from her then-husband Dalton Gomez after 2 years of marriage. Just a few days after, rumors had started popping up on social media about Grande dating her “Wicked” co-star Ethan Slater. At the time, Ethan had also recently just separated and filed for divorce from his wife and high school sweetheart Lilly Jay, with whom he has a son with.
It is certain that the two have met during the production of “Wicked,” when they were still married to their then-spouses. People close to the two had said that they have denied the allegations of them cheating on their respective partners and said that they started seeing each other when they were single.
Following her separation from Slater, Lilly Jay spoke out to Page Six, asserting that Ariana Grande wasn’t a “girl’s girl” and that she and her son were just treated as “collateral damage.”
In the present, Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater are said to be “navigating their relationship in private,” and are at the same time saying that their relationship is “much different than what has been portrayed in public.”
And Ariana Grande did have something to say about the things being said about her on social media. This is where her newest song, “yes, and?” comes in.
Critics have praised the song for the song’s production, where it had drawn inspiration from the ballroom culture of Madonna’s 1990 single “Vogue,” Beyonce’s latest album “Renaissance,” and from Lady Gaga’s “Babylon.”
In a review from NME, Sophie Williams called the track a “bitingly catchy and self-aware comeback,” and was “a melodic discourse that responds to a rumor mill in overdrive,” with the last line referencing the kinds of talk being shared on social media surrounding Grande.
Of course, while the song itself was beloved by music critics, the lyrics didn’t quite sit well with the internet, particularly referencing how Ariana Grande has ‘relished’ being involved in breakups, glorifying being ‘the other woman,’ and fueling the ‘homewrecker’ allegations.
The controversial lyrics goes, “Your business is yours, and mine is mine. Why do you care so much whose d*ck I ride?”
Being a "homewrecker " isn't the flex you think it is. https://t.co/7xlZtdDab2 pic.twitter.com/or2MxWyRNz
— ِ (@carolyizh) January 12, 2024
Because…. pic.twitter.com/yMG1wdo7Yb
— Sheree’s Stolen Joggers (@richyrich323) January 12, 2024
being and promoting being a homewrecker is soooo ugly n not the serve yall think it is
— blair kennedy♡ (@itsmissblair) January 12, 2024
she thought she ate https://t.co/fRwCZTpZwX pic.twitter.com/Imp7MimlDZ
— lala 🇵🇸 (@Meow470) January 12, 2024
being this loud and proud about sleeping with a married man with a newborn is crazyyyy idc https://t.co/wtPTJ6e2kM
— quin is guilty as sin 🤍 (@quinthecar) January 12, 2024
“critics” and its people with morals https://t.co/tfj5mI2OhE
— t ⸆⸉ ⋆⁺₊⋆ (@sevxnheavens) January 12, 2024
i’m sorry but you can’t have an affair with spongebob squarepants and expect no one to mention it https://t.co/PZ7KdYdnxr
— one dozen rats at a keyboard (@PanasonicDX4500) January 12, 2024
the dick in question being someone else’s husband 😭 https://t.co/nFW72CGusA
— Xtine (normie in training) (@Xtinekro) January 12, 2024
Y’all saying “they were already separated before they started dating” don’t understand what emotional and micro cheating is and how it’s no coincidence that they just happened to get together immediately after the separation https://t.co/qSvpgoZ25R
— britt (@evergreenqveen) January 12, 2024
She made a song instead of taking accountability lmfaoo I’m so sick of her https://t.co/7jc85HgVoT
— Mr. Flintstone🍆 (@sagistarbb) January 12, 2024
https://twitter.com/chribbzz/status/1745790909768237283?s=20
Mfs will say "yes, and?" to doing the most vile disrespectful things lmfao 😭 https://t.co/yfPglP4t98 pic.twitter.com/jndCW1Wew4
— RIEN_ (@Earn38733456) January 12, 2024
I’m sorry. I know a lot of mutuals are gagging over this because they think it’s cunty but she’s a very shameless individual and bragging about sleeping with married men isn’t cute. fuck her and spongebob https://t.co/B0fExIYZrl
— ayanna (@aideulphobic) January 12, 2024
Girl, the man’s wife came out to say you ruined their family and you’re like “i ride married man’s d!ck and that woman is left with a little baby. But mind your business ” https://t.co/U0wSA4zfmf
— Rue| ルー (@oscodium) January 12, 2024
While it is indeed distasteful to see a woman such as Ariana Grande glorify homewrecking, one person said that she was right for saying that it was “nobody’s business” to run our mouths over these people. But ultimately, Ariana Grande was still in the wrong, and that people should also speak out against Ethan Slater and not just Grande.
Two things can be true at the same time: 1. she’s right, its really none of our business. We dont know these people.
2. being a homewrecker is absolutely shameless behavior.
Lemme add 3: send the same energy to that spongebob motherfucker as well. https://t.co/hnsWnZHnh1— JJ (@ladydragonjj) January 12, 2024
idk if this is unpopular but she is completely right about this, y'all need to mind your own damn business. like her private life is hers and no one else's. even if she really is a "homewrecker" like why do you care? that's her life and she doesn't have to answer to any of you https://t.co/wprTSCwFeX
— rhaenyra targaryen's lawyer (@Targ_Nation) January 12, 2024
the man is obviously to blame in this situation but seeing women destroy families and marriages and still having this attitude about it is so wrong https://t.co/qg9HSW15Cp
— amélie (@ephhemere) January 12, 2024
What are your thoughts on this?
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