In 2023, rumors and drama spread throughout the media about Ariana Grande, although she has not released a new album since 2020. These rumors consisted of weight loss, romance, and acting roles. Ariana starts the new year with a new single called “yes, and?”, which this post will be reviewing from the lyrics to the beat to the videography. This song goes into these rumors and the rebirth of her music career.
Ariana Grande starts off the music video with critics hating on her and assuming everything on the internet is true. These people are on their way to watch an exclusive performance from her. When they are settled, they see Ariana and her dancers as statues. This could resemble how her career was paused as she has not released a new song in four years, but once Ariana starts singing, everyone who was a statue, crumbles to the ground and becomes alive, meaning she is awakening her career back up.
Ariana starts singing about how nobody knows what is really going on in a person’s life, and how everyone is healing from hurt. This verse is to set up the story of how people are nosy about her life, and nobody should judge her on it when they do not know what she is going through.
Her lyrics are written to hype other people up by telling them to not care what anyone else thinks, and if someone has something negative to say, stay positive to stay happy.
The chorus is all about Ariana mocking the haters and daring them to say what they really mean without hiding who they are and what they feel. The media has been an easy place for some to spread hate because they feel they are hidden since they are not communicating face-to-face. This is an intimidating way to get the haters to back off or reveal who they really are, which would result in backlash from her fans, as any die hard fan is most likely to hate on haters of their favorite celebrities or people.
In the second verse, Ariana sings about not changing who she is because of the haters. She will not hide who she is either.
During the second prechorus, Ariana looks at a curtain that magically covers up the little light that is illuminating into the room. This is where the audience starts to get more interested, and Ariana starts becoming more dominating in a sense, which will be delved more into later on.
After the prechorus, Ariana mentions turning on your light for the second time. During this phrase, a light box above the audience appears that shines red, and suddenly, the audience starts sweating, taking off their clothes, and dancing. I assume it is because it is now hot and the critics are starting to think of Ariana in a positive light since everyone seems to be getting into the groove of her music during this performance. Red is also associated with being alluring, so this could be a mind trick for the audience. This also plays into Ariana’s behavior on enticing critics to listen to what she has to say. This behavior sticks throughout the bridge as well.
In the bridge, Ariana sings about her values and not wasting time or her breath on people who hate her. She believes that everyone is their own person, and she does not have to hide how she feels. Ariana calls back to when people were commenting on her body by singing, “don’t comment on my body, do not reply”. She sings softer in a whispery tone which sounds haunting. In the video, Ariana seems to hypnotize the critics into loving her again. Everyone starts clapping and dancing as they are mesmerized by her. At the end, she grabs a few of the critics to join her in the choreography, showing how celebrities and critics could get along if everyone played nice.
Once she finishes singing, the curtain from before is now removed, and Ariana and her dancers are back to stone, leaving the audience members confused and impressed. Everything turns back to normal, and everyone leaves while another group makes its way into the room to watch the performance.
Overall, “yes, and?” was a great comeback song that addresses the drama that her name has been in. It shows her fans who she really is and what she really believes in after taking this time away from her music.
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