Earlier this month, Ariana Grande caused a stir when it was announced that not only has she split from her husband, Dalton Gomez, but she is also apparently now dating her Wicked costar Ethan Slater.
This romance has proved to be particularly controversial because Ethan has been married to his high school sweetheart Lilly Jay since 2018, and they welcomed their first child just last year.
After the news broke, it was reported that Ethan’s wife had been left “devastated” after being “completely blindsided” by his relationship with Ariana. And last week, TMZ revealed that Ethan had officially filed for divorce.
But just days later, the same publication claimed that Ariana is now giving Ethan “space” to work things out with Lilly. In fact, sources told TMZ that the two haven’t even been in the same city for several weeks.
While Ariana and Ethan are apparently still dating, many interpreted this new report to be a sign that all is not well between them — and it didn’t take long for people to speculate that Ethan may come to regret seemingly leaving his longtime partner for Ariana, who has always been incredibly open in her music about her seriously casual approach to dating.
Responding to the TMZ article on a Reddit forum, one user referenced one of Ariana’s biggest songs as they wrote: “It’s giving ‘thank u next’ This man really blew his life up for nothing.”
In Ariana’s 2018 hit, she pays tribute to her ex-boyfriends before highlighting how replaceable they are by repeating “thank you, next” in the song’s catchy chorus.
And this is far from Ariana’s only release that seemingly highlights how she really feels about relationships. In fact, before she married Dalton in 2021, many of Ariana’s songs suggested that while men tend to easily become infatuated with her, she is very rarely interested in anything long-term.
This is perhaps at its most overt in the 2019 album track “Better Off,” where Ariana literally calls her love a “curse” as she warns men that she will make them fall for her before ultimately deciding that she is better off remaining single and “wild.”
Suggesting that this is a common occurrence in her life, the star sings: “Give it too much importance / My love will have you fall to your knees / I tell 'em this too often / Know better than to bark up my tree.”
Throughout the track, Ariana also says that she is only interested in the physical part of a relationship, singing in the chorus: “I’d rather your body than half of your heart,” and admitting that she never lets her partners “know too much” about her.
“Go on and face it, I'll never be ready for you,” she goes on. “I swear my love is a curse, make you head over shoes / Let's put them topics to bed and go fuck on the roof, just to say that we did it / You keep insisting I listen to your proposition / I dismiss 'em all, no offense.”
This concept is reiterated in Ariana’s song “Bloodline,” where she once again sings about not wanting anything more than sex from her partner — and that they have to “take it or leave it.”
“Don’t want you in my bloodline / Not tryna make you all mine,” she sings. “And no need to apologize / But you gon' have to let this shit go.”
Elsewhere, she says: “No, we won’t be talking the next day / I ain’t got nothing to say / I ain’t looking for my one true love / Yeah, that ship sailed away.”
“Love me, thank you, leave me / Put it down, then it's time to go,” the pre-chorus repeats, with Ariana then admitting, “I know what you're looking for, but I'm complete / I know what you need, but it won't be me.”
A similar notion is visited in “Bad Idea,” where Ariana sings that she needs somebody to give her something she can “feel.” She then warns, “But boy, don’t trip, you know this isn’t real / You should know I’m temporary.”
In many of Ariana’s other tracks, she hints that she likes to play mind games with men. In the 2020 song “Motive,” she sings about finding it “exciting” to lead someone on, and in “Goodnight N Go,” the star quips: “Play with your mind for no reason / I know you love how I tease it.”
Meanwhile, in “Worst Behavior,” Ariana sings about how it's in her “nature” to be a “troublemaker” when it comes to dating.
Another similar theme in Ariana’s music is her acknowledgment of her ability to get exactly what she wants. This is perhaps most notable in her 2019 hit “7 Rings,” where she repeats: “I see it / I like it / I want it / I got it,” but it is reiterated through a host of her other songs too.
In “Just Like Magic,” Ariana boasts that she has “finessed” manifestation before singing: “Just like magic / I’m attractive / I get everything I want 'cause I attract it,” and in “West Side,” her self-assurance is evident in the lyric: “I’m gonna be your new favorite.”
And her 2019 single “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” ties all of these themes together, which is probably why it has already been brought up several times in light of her and Ethan’s rumored romance.
Especially as the breakdown of Ethan and Lilly’s marriage is far from the first time that Ariana is thought to have been involved in somebody else’s relationship crisis.
In fact, it has been speculated that Ariana’s exes Mac Miller, Big Sean, and Pete Davidson were all in long-term relationships with other women soon before they started dating the singer.
In her song, Ariana repeats, “Break up with your girlfriend ’cause I’m bored / You can hit it in the morning like it’s yours / I know it ain’t right but I don’t care,” which prompted one social media user to joke, “you’re telling me they girl who said break up with your girlfriend i’m bored has boys breaking up with their girlfriends cuz she’s bored?”
