Ariana Grande‘s eighth studio album, Eternal Sunshine, dropped on Friday. In the weeks leading to its release, it’s garnered a lot of online chatter. One track in particular, “The Boy Is Mine,” had fans speculating, given the album’s release in the wake of Grande’s alleged relationship with Wicked co-star Ethan Slater and a recent split from his wife, BuzzFeed reported.
The original 1998 hit of the same name sees R&B legends Brandy and Monica battle it out for a man. Grande, while appearing on The Zach Sang Show (which airs on Amazon Music’s Twitch channel) explained that her version is a “reimagining” of the track, inspired in part by fans’ response to “Fantasize,” a leaked song of the singer’s that gained popularity on TikTok in 2021.
“It was like a parody of this girl group vibe. But [the fans] love it… It’s so corny, but it’s okay. I took the note, and I kind of gave them Ariana’s version of that on the album,” the Grammy winner told Variety of “Fantasize.” “They’re completely different now. So although you’ve heard them — because you stole them — they’re very different now.”
Grande described her “The Boy Is Mine” as a “bad girl anthem.” To those who may think it’s an extension of “Fantasize,” Grande told Sang they may be on to something.
“In a way. I think I kind of was like, ‘This is a very bad idea, I think.’ But there is a large group of my fans that do love a bad girl anthem, and this is, I think, an elevated version of that,” she explained.
The song’s title stirred up confusion, with some fans thinking the singer would sample the Brandy and Monica version. And though it does not sample the hit, it interpolates the 1998 song’s titular lyrics.
Though the song does not sample the original, fans still love it.
And some are convinced the track is about her relationship with Slate.
As BuzzFeed News reported, Grande has been tight-lipped about the rumored romance, which made headlines last month. During another appearance on The Zach Sang Show, she addressed the situation, sharing she felt attacked by the media.
“The thing is, we know this about the tabloids and about the media. Am I crazy? Don’t we know this?” she said. “We selectively remember that this is what the tabloids do to people, especially women, based on whether or not we like the person.”
Later, she added, “[The media leaves space for] their friends and family, but they turn it off when that aligns with the version of a person that they have in their head that they want to believe is true.”
Grande also noted that she won’t share the details of her maybe new relationship.
“We don’t need to go into any specifics, but of course there’s an insatiable frustration, inexplicable hellish feeling, watching people misunderstand the people you love, and you.”
Grande’s album has garnered nearly universal acclaim upon release, with many citing it as one of her best albums of all-time. At the time of publishing, it has a score of 88 on Metacritic.
