Ariana Grande sent fans into a frenzy on Thursday night as she dropped her highly-anticipated new song Yes, And? — after confirming a new album is on the way.
The singer, 30, hasn’t release new solo music since her sixth studio album Positions in October 2020. The song POV was the last solo single by Grande to hit radio in March 2021.
Yes, And? is a self-empowering anthem as Ariana encourages listeners to ‘keep moving’ and reject the narratives others have made about them.
Her latest song also appears to touch on her controversial romance with Wicked co-star Ethan Slater as she bemoans: ‘Why do you care so much whose **** I ride?’
They met while shooting the Netflix film adaptation of the Broadway musical and confirmed the relationship this year shortly after ending their respective marriages.
Fans have speculated about the timeline of their romance, with Ethan’s ex-wife and the mother of his child, Lilly Jay, previously blasting Ariana for not being a ‘girls’ girl.’
The hitmaker sings: ‘Come on and walk this way through the fire (Don’t care what’s on their mind) / And if you find yourself in a dark situation / Just turn on your light and be like / “Yes, and?”‘
In the second verse, Ariana — who was previously married to realtor Dalton Gomez — admits that she’s ‘so done with caring’ about what others think about her.
She sings: ‘Now, I’m so done with caring / What you think, no, I won’t hide / Underneath your own projections / Or change my most authentic life’
Along with drama in her dating life, Ariana has also faced bodyshaming and speculation about her weight in recent years.
She tells listeners: ‘Don’t comment on my body, do not reply / Your business is yours and mine is mine’
Earlier Thursday, Grande shared a teaser trailer for the ‘Yes, And?’ music video which will premiere early Friday morning.
It captures a group of stern ‘critics’ who’ve been personally invited to meet ‘exclusively’ with Grande.
They converse with one another, speculating about the superstar’s personal life and career moves.
In late December Ariana confirmed she would come out with new music in 2024.
‘See you next year,’ Grande wrote on Instagram. She tagged her producer Ilya Salmanzadeh, Republic Records and others.
She also did so by sharing photos and video of herself in the recording studio with her producer.
In some of the clips, you could hear background noise in the studio but when Ariana stepped up to the microphone, the videos were muted.
In several of the images, she sat at a computer and edited audio files.
Ariana has put her music on hold for the last few years to film the three Wicked movies which were shot back to back.
Friends and fans jumped into the comments to share their excitement with her friend and collaborator Victoria Monet commenting: ‘She’s HOME!!!’
Cynthia Erivo, who stars as Elphaba opposite Grande’s Glinda in the Wicked movies, wrote: ‘no one is ready.’ ‘I’m so freaking proud of you!!’ and ‘This project is so freaking special!!!’
The Bang Bang singer hasn’t released an album of new music since 2020’s Positions. Instead she focused wholly on Wicked and her R.E.M. Beauty business.
‘Wicked is going to have every piece of me, every minute, every ounce of my heart, my time, my soul, my everything that I can give it,’ she told Billboard in May 2022.
‘My hands are quite full with a lot of other ‘thrillifying’ work at the moment. I am spending all of my time with Glinda, I just was not ready.’
It was previously reported that Ariana had signed with Brandon Creed’s newly-launched Good World Management last weekend.
It has been months since she allegedly parted ways with manager Scooter Braun, 42, marking a decade since he helped catapult her to fame with her debut album, Yours Truly.
But insiders close to the situation have since told DailyMail.com that despite wanting to part ways with Braun, she is still very much tied to the record executive, at least legally.
‘She continues to be contractually bound to Scooter as there are several long term contracts still in place.
‘If Ariana were to release a new album tomorrow, she would still be obligated to pay Scooter in addition to Brandon. Nothing has changed there.’
However, it seems that Grande is doing the best she can not to collaborate with Braun, with a second source insisting: ‘She is not working with Scooter.’
In fact, the second insider said that there are currently ‘legal proceedings pending’ over the contract ending, revealing: ‘There are legal proceedings pending over what, if anything, each party is entitled to as a result of the contract ending.’
This comes months after sources confirmed that the singer had ditched longtime manager Scooter Braun.
Demi Lovato, Troye Sivan, Charli XCX, Orville Peck, Mark Ronson and former Fifth Harmony singer Normani also left Scooter.
