It has been a busy week for Ariana Grande. In addition to feuding with the Grammys (and, arguably, winning), releasing her fifth album, Thank U, Next, on Friday, and putting out a new music video, Grande also made time to celebrate the release of Thank U, Next by getting candid with her fans on Twitter about the making of the album.
One of the first questions she answered had to with the drag queen Shangela, who is featured at the beginning of the song “NASA.” In it, she says, “That’s one small step for woman / One giant leap for womankind.” According to Grande, Shangela happened to stop by the studio one day with Grande’s brother, Frankie, and happened to say that organically — so, of course, Grande asked her to say it again for the recording.
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she came thru w frankie one night to visit us in the studio & said that to .... i was like ..... pls say that again and be on my album #thankunext https://t.co/vk6apULt5J
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) February 8, 2019
Another pre-song voice recording came from Grande’s friend Doug Middlebrook in the track “In My Head.” In the recording, Middlebrook says, "Here's the thing, you're in love with a version of a person that you've created in your head. That you're trying to, but cannot fix. Uh, the only person you can fix is yourself. In my view, this has gone on way too long. Enough is enough. I'm two blocks away, I'm coming over."
Grande said “In My Head” wasn’t inspired by the voicemail. It was found later (presumably after the song was recorded) and, Grande said, “it just fit.”
it just fit. we found it later. ? https://t.co/CGiDqW8d29
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) February 8, 2019
“Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored,” was the last song written for “Thank U, Next.” Grande said she decided to made it the last song on the album as well because she “liked the idea of ending a more honest n [sic] vulnerable project” with a “punchline.”
i think it’s funny. i liked the idea of ending a more honest n vulnerable project and with like a punchline. https://t.co/eH2XYA35qR
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) February 8, 2019
She also said she wrote “Ghostin” first. The song also (perhaps unsurprisingly, given its emotional heft) took the longest to write.
“[W]e had to take lil breaks from ghostin,” Grande explained. “[T]hat was the first hook done and then we came back and did the verses like two weeks later.”
we had to take lil breaks from ghostin. that was the first hook done and then we came back and did the verses like two weeks later .... ? everything else we did in like an hour #thankunext https://t.co/viLv9MorSq
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) February 8, 2019
Everything else, apparently, took only about an hour to write. Or, at least, that’s what it seemed like to Grande. When a fan professed shock that such “masterpieces” had been written in only an hour, Grande admitted her timeline might have been a bit skewed.
"[I]t sure felt like it !” she wrote on Twitter. “[I] mean maybe we were just drunk."
Finally, Grande said her favorite songs from “Thank You Next” are “Fake Smile” and “Make Up.” Fenty Beauty (which gets a shoutout in “Make Up”) agreed, and, on Twitter, declared the song a “bop.”
Issa bop ✨✨✨ https://t.co/0HLgBv6Ens
— Fenty Beauty (@fentybeauty) February 8, 2019