yes, and?

“yes, and?” is the 2024 single from American singer, songwriter and actress Ariana Grande. Released on the 12th January 2024 through Republic Records, “yes, and?” marks Grande’s return to music after a four year long hiatus.

The house pop song covers many topics, all which are regarding Grande’s personal life and the public’s scrutiny and opinions of them. Between 2020 and 2023, Grande was constantly the subject of rumours and speculation, with conversations discussing her weight loss, her marriage (and then divorce) with Dalton Gomez, her split from her manager Scooter Braun and a multitude of “homewrecker” allegations.

Drawing heavy melodic inspiration from Madonna’s 1990 hit single “Vogue”, “yes, and?” sees Grande be the most lyrically bold in her career. With lyrics such as “why do you care so much whose d**k I ride?”, the song has been quick to receive love, hate and some valid criticism from listeners.

The reason the song’s lyrics and title are controversial, is that Grande’s dating life has been the centre of controversy for well over a decade. Grande has been known to enter relationships quickly, and allegedly sometimes with people already in other relationships. With her current partner, Ethan Slater (who is Grande’s co-star in the film adaptation of the stage musical “Wicked”), people were quick to dig out history between the pair.

Slater had been with his high school sweetheart Lilly Jay for 10 years, with the pair getting married in 2018 after 6 years of dating. In 2022, their son was born and Slater then later filed for divorce in 2023. Slater’s divorce was fuelling the rumours of his relationship with Grande, leading people to dig into the trio’s connection with one another. After some research, the public found that both Slater and Jay had been good friends with Grande, with Grande frequently dining with the pair and even liking pictures of the married couple’s newborn child (while she was allegedly dating Slater). TikTok users dug up more instances of Grande stirring the pot with partners, such as saying that rapper and her ex-boyfriend Big Sean could “still get it” in her “thank u, next” music video in 2019 – while he was with his partner singer and songwriter Jhene Aiko.

The internet was in a frenzy, with TikToks stating that Grande wasn’t “a girl’s girl”, and that “yes, and?” proved that statement even more, with the title so clearly showing listeners and critics that Grande simply didn’t care if they approved of her relationship with Slater or not – especially how it came to be.

The audio video for the song was released on the 12th January through Ariana Grande’s official YouTube channel.

 

Read the lyrics to “yes, and?”here.

*All information accurate at the time of publishing (16th January 2024).