Thank U, Next (song)

Grande originally wrote the song while engaged to Davidson, during a tumultuous point in their relationship. Several versions of the song were recorded due to the uncertainty of her relationship with Davidson at the time, as well as hesitation from Parx regarding whether Grande should list the names of her exes in the song's lyrics. Upon release, "Thank U, Next" was met with critical acclaim; critics praised its catchiness, lyricism and positive message. It has been listed as one of the 100 songs that defined the 2010s decade by Billboard, and was featured in several year-end and decade-end rankings. The song was also included in Rolling Stone's 2021 revision of their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at number 137.


"Thank U, Next" was an immediate commercial success worldwide reaching number one in 23 countries. With only five days of tracking, it debuted at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Grande's first number one single in the United States. It spent seven weeks at number one in the country, and has been certified as eight-times platinum by the RIAA. The song also broke numerous streaming records upon release, including the record for the most streams received by a song in a single day for a female artist on Spotify, and the largest on-demand streaming week for a female artist ever recorded in the US.


Its music video, directed by Hannah Lux Davis, was released on November 30, 2018. The music video referenced the early 2000s' cult classic films Bring It On, Legally Blonde, Mean Girls and 13 Going on 30, and featured several celebrity cameos. It broke many viewership records, including the record for the most-watched music video on YouTube within 24 hours, with over 55.4 million views, and the largest YouTube Premiere ever at the time. The video was met with widespread critical acclaim, was highlighted as one of the pioneering moments in pop culture for 2018 and received a nomination for Video of the Year at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards.

Background and release[edit]

On November 2, 2018, Grande tweeted lyrics of a mysterious track, after her ex-fiancé, Pete Davidson, joked about their broken engagement on Saturday Night Live. The following day, she tweeted more lyrics, revealing that they indeed belong to a track named "Thank U, Next", which she described was lyrically and conceptually the opposite of her Dangerous Woman (2016) track "Knew Better". She also revealed that Thank U, Next would also be the title of her fifth album, which she had been teasing for several months on Twitter.^[3]


The song was surprise-released on November 3, 2018, without any prior official announcement or promotion.^[2] Its release late on Saturday went against the standard of Global Release Day, where most music is released midnight on Fridays.

Impact and legacy[edit]

Upon release, "Thank U, Next" became a cultural phenomenon, inspiring viral tweets, memes and catch phrases on the Internet. The song's title and lyrics were used and talked about extensively by news outlets, protestors and commentators, while its unexpected release was also discussed.^{[112][113][114]} Vanity Fair wrote: "The memes are perhaps the clearest measure of its cultural pervasiveness, and of Grande's place in pop culture." and compared the song's cultural impact to musical film A Star Is Born and rapper Drake in the same year.^[115] Elle described "Thank U, Next" as "a revolutionary kind of breakup anthem" and added that the song "shows young people are taking a much more optimistic view of breakups than generations past".^[116] Quartz observed that "Thank U, Next" was "constantly streaming, at parties, hangouts, and on commutes" due to its popularity and wrote that "[Grande] widens the emotional possibilities for women going through heartbreak--revealing the multiplicity of our romantic and sexual preferences" throughout the song.^[117] During the 2019 Women's March, attendees held up posters and signs with political spins using the song's catch phrase lyrics.^[118]The Guardian called the song "a powerful cultural moment".^[119] The song was also included in Rolling Stone's 2021 revision of their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, calling it "a song that floats with strength and grace, offering a sage perspective on the work of moving on, from a place of profound centeredness".^[120]


Its music video was praised by critics and is considered one of 2018's most significant pop culture events. In Adweek's opinion, the viral music video created "the sort of mass-market cultural event that has become increasingly rare since the heyday of MTV" and also cited it as an example of "how a carefully-crafted marketing strategy can deliver big results and used principles and best practices that are useful for marketers in any category".^[121] Wired and USA Today listed "Thank U, Next" among the best music and pop culture moments of 2018.^[122][123] Hannah Lux Davis, the music video's director, praised Grande's contributions to the song: "[Grande] was redefining what a breakup song could be. She put this really positive, fun, empowered twist on it, which I feel like hadn't really been tapped into this specifically".^[124] In 2022, Jennifer Coolidge credited Grande and the "Thank U, Next" music video for revitalizing her career.^[125]


The song's surprise release without any prior announcement or promotion was discussed by some publications. While addressing the recently noticed "surprise-release-fatigue", Rolling Stone's Elias Leight opined that the fatigue did not apply to Grande, following the song's record-breaking performance on streaming platforms, which Leight considered remarkable, due to streaming being dominated by rap music.^[126] "Thank U, Next" was also considered as an unconventional breakup song, for directly name-dropping Grande's exes and serving as a celebratory ode to them. The Guardian's Ann-Derrick Gaillot felt Grande created a "new kind of break up song". Gaillot stated that "in this year's most popular breakup song, 'Thank U, Next', we know exactly whom Ariana Grande is singing about. Also singing about more than one ex, she identifies them in the opening lyrics...her motive is to praise, not condemn." In 2022, Insider named it the twelfth greatest breakup song of the 21st century, stating that " there has never been a song like "Thank U, Next," one that casually name-drops a superstar's exes — not for shade or shock value, but to celebrate radical honesty and resilience, even in the face of unimaginable loss."^[127] E! News and Billboard have considered "Thank U, Next" as one of the best breakup songs of all time.^[128][129]


The song has been described as an inspiration for many artists such as Sufjan Stevens, whose eighth studio album The Ascension was influenced by it; in an interview with Vanity Fair, he said: "I think that the Ariana Grande song kind of woke me up, 'Thank U, Next'. It seems like she was tonally able to balance an understanding of a situation and of the value of [seeing] things diplomatically—but was also so over it."^[130]