Look what you made her do. Last Sunday (January 7), when Ariana Grande announced her comeback single ‘Yes, And?’, pop music forums rushed to declare that the singer was about to enter her “‘Reputation’ era”. Their evidence? The mysterious but seductive cover art, the rhetorical question in the song title, and winking clues scattered across social media all pointed to an artist preparing to get something off her chest, much like how Taylor Swift approached her 2017 album of the same name.
But where that record hinged on themes of revenge, lust and vindication, on ‘Yes, And?’ – Grande’s first solo release since 2020 LP ‘Positions’ – the 30-year-old holds the focus entirely on herself, delivering a compact and clever clapback with the energy of the nail-painting emoji. For an artist that has previously been criticised for poor enunciation, her vocal is surprisingly restrained – not a single “yuh” or whistle note to be found, she’ll have you know. It also elevates Grande’s production style, which she has honed alongside longtime collaborator Max Martin, from trap beat-obsessed and transcendent to something more intriguing, leaning towards deep house: a melodic discourse that responds to a rumour mill in overdrive.
Here, Grande moves with intention. What she has to speak about presumably revolves around the music industry and her private life, topics which tie in with recent news stories about her. Last August, she parted ways with manager Scooter Braun; the month prior, news of a reported relationship with her Wicked co-star Ethan Slater broke, after she filed for divorce from Dalton Gomez. Earlier in the year, too, she posted a lengthy and candid TikTok responding to the body-shaming comments she has faced throughout her decade-long career. “I have never felt more pride or joy or love while simultaneously feeling so deeply misunderstood by people who don’t know me,” Grande posted to Instagram stories in December, summing up a tumultuous 2023 in the media.
Gossips will pore over ‘Yes, And?’, which directly alludes to the recent headlines around Grande. “Well I read it on the internet, it must be true,” says a ‘critic’ in an accompanying teaser clip. But crucially, the track highlights something obvious that’s perhaps been drowned out by the hubbub of online chatter: as a vocalist and producer, she’s still fantastic at what she does. Grande’s back catalogue contains a wealth of big, iconic samples – most notably, the use of ‘I’m Coming Out’ on 2014’s ‘Break Your Heart Right Back’ – but on ‘Yes, And?’, the approach is more subtle, interpolating the beat of Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ in order to evoke freedom.
Over 10 years, Grande has presented herself in multitudes – from a doe-eyed theatre kid to the shady and determined “super bunny” – but what has remained consistent in her music is a real, almost brutal playfulness. It’s as if she’s always imagining the memes that will follow any release. There will be no confusion as to what she’s getting at in the vocoder-style breakdown on ‘Yes, And?’: (“Your business is yours and mine is mine / Why do you care so much whose – [pause] – I ride?”) – it’s both a mission statement and warning shot.
It may not be an ‘Into You’ or ‘No Tears Left To Cry’, the type of big Grande singles that can shift your entire world for three adrenaline-pumping minutes, but ‘Yes, And?’ presents Grande in her truest form: a flawed but honest human being, seeking to own her narrative and move forward.