HOLLYWOOD—Shortly after worldwide celebrity Ariana Grande’s new hit single “thank u, next” was released on November 3, it reached number one in many countries including Australia, Canada, Singapore, the UK, and the United States.  In addition, it held the number one position on the iTunes Charts and broke Spotify streaming records, exceeding over 100 million streams.  About two weeks have passed since its release and “thank u, next” is still trending globally.

With 134 million Instagram followers, singer/songwriter Ariana Grande is one of the most famous international celebrities. She started her debut as Kat Valentine on the show “Victorious” that aired on Nickelodeon from 2010 until 2013. With immense success through her music, she has now evolved into an international pop star. Given her fame, fans everywhere have followed her lovelife and especially her more recent relationship with “Saturday Night Live” comedian Pete Davidson.

Ariana and Pete met back in 2016 during a “Saturday Night Live” skit, but didn’t start dating until 2018.  Shortly after, the relationship was in full swing, as the duo soon got matching tattoos and became engaged. They even got a shared pet pig named “Piggy Smallz”.  In Grande’s new album “Sweetener,” she dedicated many lyrics to her at the time fiancé and even an entire song that was titled “Pete Davidson.”

Unfortunately, the couple recently split causing devastation among fans.  However, just after the breakup the singer came out with “thank u, next,” an ode to moving on and finding inner peace post-breakup. Throughout the song, she thanks all of her exes for impacting her life and celebrates her well being. The hashtag “#thankyounext” became wildly popular, with over 81,000 hits on Instagram and hundreds of tweets per hour on Twitter.  

The meaning behind the song is resonating with hundreds of fans.  With her simplistic lyrics, Ariana conveys a message of a healthy relationship with yourself being of the utmost importance.  In the second verse of the song, she sings about how she has moved on and is in a relationship, but says “I know they say I move on too fast/ But this one gon’ last/ ‘Cause her name is Ari/ And I’m so good with that” referencing herself).  Many found this message empowering and could relate it back to themselves.  

Having the song become an instant hit is quite impressive seeing as she had not previously done any advertising or released any teasers.  Miss Grande expressed her immense gratitude on Instagram, saying “thank u ♡ for hearing me and for making me feel so not alone 🖤”, and sharing more of her sentiments practically daily since the song’s release.

The single still remains in the top 5 on the iTunes chart and continues to be listened to by millions of fans daily.

Stream “thank u, next” on Spotify.