Ariana Grande Teases ‘Bad Girl Anthem’ Track on Her New Album Is a Reimagining of a ‘90s R&B Hit

Ariana Grande wasn’t happy about her song being illegally circulated online, but her fans’ reaction to it ultimately influenced her latest album.

The pop star, 30, recently wowed fans as she opened up about the leak of her track “Fantasize” on The Zach Sang Show, and warned that they will see the perpetrators “literally in prison”. Ironically, the love her fans showed for the pop song did influence the tracklist of her upcoming album, Eternal sunshine.

Among the 13 songs on her seventh studio album — her first in nearly three and a half years, as of 2020. Positions — is a song called “the boy is mine,” which Grande confirmed is related to Brandy and Monica’s 1998 song of the same name.

“I love this song. I’ve always wanted to kind of reinvent that song,” she said during a conversation with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 on Thursday.

The reimagining ended in the eighth song Eternal sunshine after Grande “saw my fans’ reaction to ‘Fantasize,’ because they love it so much.”

Brandy and Monica – “My Boy” (1998). Courtesy of Atlantic

She said it was “in a way” an extension of the unreleased song — which she wrote for the TV show, not for herself, she told Sang.

“I think I kind of thought, ‘This is a really bad idea,’ I mean, but… There’s a big group of my fans that really — love the mean girl anthem,” she reflected.

Her take on “boyfriend is mine” is exactly that – but, in her words, “an elevated version”.

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During the conversation with Sango, Grande teased that some influences from “Fantasize” came through Eternal sunshinealthough they took a different form.

The song was originally written as a “parody of the ’90s girl group vibe,” she said, but after it was circulated online by people she called “thieves, pirates, scammers,” she realized her fans “loved it.”

“And I said, ‘a) you’re all absolute hypocrites, and b) that’s crazy! That’s so corny!’ But it’s okay. I took the note and gave them Ariana’s version of it on the album. I would say that there is. So some of those seedling ideas from that time made it onto the album, which is really exciting, but they’re completely different now.”

The Wicked star also called for her to regain control of the song and said: “I’ll pay you more to put it away, to get it back.”

Ariana Grande and Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1.

Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1

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In addition to featuring a “bad girl anthem,” Grande’s upcoming album seeks to answer a burning question the singer had — or at least that’s how Lowe seemed to understand the story told between the opening track, “intro (end of the world),” and that last one , “ordinary things”.

“I listened to it and thought, ‘OK, it starts with a question and ends with an answer.’ The question is, ‘How will I know if I’m in the right relationship, if I’ve found the right person?’ ”

Grande said she always knew “‘regular stuff’ was the end of the album,” but she wasn’t quite sure how she was going to polish it.

“I thought, ‘This is the last song, but I’m wondering how can I put that button on it and make it come down emotionally the way I feel it can, and how can I answer the question?’ ”

She only found the answer when she listened to one of the many voice notes of her grandmother Nonna talking to a friend. “There was a real kick in the middle of it, and I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s the answer.’ ”

Ariana Grande and Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1.

Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1

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Despite the background she provided on the opening and closing tracks and “the boy is mine,” those three songs didn’t make the cut when Lowe asked Grande about her favorites from the album.

Instead, she listed “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)”, “imperfect for you” and the title track, “eternal sunshine”, which she previously confirmed was a reference to the 2004 film in which they star Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet.

“I think the movie is so loved because so many people can relate to knowing that something is wrong, but loving so much, wanting to stay, wanting to figure it out, and that cycle that can happen in a movie,” she said. Eternal sunshine of a flawless mind. “It’s because so many people can relate to it, and I think it kind of fell into place for these songs to have little tidbits of that theme. I just felt really inspired by it.”

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Source: HIS Education