Ariana Grande’s first single below her personal title in additional than three years arrives with a feel-good, bouncy lilt within the melody and rhythm, and a transparent inspiration from Madonna’s “Vogue” (together with a splash of mid-‘90s Janet Jackson). However first impressions might be deceiving, as a result of the lyrics bear a refreshingly optimistic I-am-who-I-am, be-yourself-and-keep-it-moving message — however with enamel, in addition to some well-placed expletives.

The upshot is within the lead-in and refrain: “If you end up in a darkish state of affairs, simply flip in your gentle and be like, ‘Sure, and?’,” which continues with “Say that shit along with your chest, and/ Be your individual fuckin finest buddy… Maintain transferring like, ‘What’s subsequent?’”

However the inspiration for these lyrics lies different locations within the tune: “Boy, put your lipstick on,” adopted by “I’m so carried out with caring what you assume” and “Don’t touch upon my physique, don’t reply/ Your corporation is yours and mine is mine.”

The video for the tune is slated to drop afterward Friday.

As for different inspirations, the Madonna component is obvious — there’s even a barely robotic spoken center part — though it doesn’t use a “Vogue” pattern: the tune was written and produced by Grande with longtime collaborators Max Martin (probably the most profitable songwriter-producer of the final 25 years, from Britney Spears to the Weeknd) and Ilya Salmanzadeh.

It provides as much as a radio and dancefloor-friendly re-entry for the singer that has nonetheless has a troublesome edge — and units the desk for the long-awaited album she’s mentioned is coming later this 12 months.

Whereas Ariana Grande has been featured on a number of hit singles in recent times — most notably the Weeknd’s remixes of “Save Your Tears” and “Die for You” — she hasn’t launched an album or perhaps a single below her personal title since her sixth full-length, “Positions,” dropped in October 2020. She’s been laborious at work on Common’s big-screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical “Depraved,” which is due in November, and extra quietly, she additionally break up with longtime supervisor Scooter Braun and is now repped by Brandon Creed (who handles Lovato, Troye Sivan, Charli XCX, Mark Ronson and others).

A collection of Instagram posts final 12 months revealed that she’s been engaged on album quantity seven with longtime collaborators Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh — posting silent clips of herself singing within the studio (“No snippets this time!”). On Dec. 27, she lastly confirmed that the album is coming this 12 months, probably earlier than later (since she additionally tagged video director Christian Breslauer and a number of other dancers in that submit). Among the many images have been ones of herself dancing and one other of her weeping within the studio, saying “I’m so drained… However so comfortable and grateful.” She supplied, by means of rationalization, “The 2 moods of the album.”