Ariana Grande and the press are on a break in "we can't be friends (wait for your love)"
Grande released her seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshine, today, along with the record's second music video
Ariana Grande’s seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshine, is officially out in the world, and like the film it takes its name from, it sees the transcendent pop star wading through the depths of her own personal history to answer one essential question, asked in the record’s opening track: “How can I tell if I’m in the right relationship?”
The next 35 minutes and 32 seconds see Ari naturally litigating her past romantic relationships, especially her marriage with ex-husband Dalton Gomez, who she calls a “situationship” in the song “don’t wanna break up again,” and suggests may have cheated on her (at least according to internet detectives) in another, “eternal sunshine.” (The offending lyric is: “I showed you all my demons, all my lies / Yet you played me like Atari / Now it’s like I’m lookin’ in the mirror / Hope you feel alright when you’re in her.”)
But it’s not just her relationships with men that Grande is interested in here. As in leading single “yes, and?,” the singer is also re-examining her relationship with fame, and specifically the press, in “we can’t be friends (wait for your love),” the second track from the album to get an accompanying video.
In the video, featuring a surprise cameo from Evan Peters, Grande lovingly recreates Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, including a vision of the memory wiping procedure and iconic moments from the film like the scene where Jim Carrey’s Joel and Kate Winslet’s Clementine make snow angels.
Unlike the confident stance she takes in “yes, and?,” Grande paints a different and far more complicated picture of her real, lifelong romance in “we can’t be friends (wait for your love).” “We can’t be friends / But I’d like to just pretend / You cling to your papers and pens / Wait until you like me again,” she sings in the song’s chorus, over a Robyn-esque beat, before re-asserting that she’ll “wait for your love.” With this release, she just might get it.