Ariana Grande Enters the House-Pop Race with "yes, and?"

"yes, and?" finds Grande addressing her critics over a massive Max Martin beat

BY Kaelen BellPublished Jan 12, 2024

Ariana Grande has finally made her long-awaited return to music, briefly setting aside the makeup and movie sets for a big, muscular house beat and a pointed message to fans and critics — stop talking about me.

"Yes, and?" sees Grande tapping into the house music revival that's been popping up in pop music over the last few years, joining Beyoncé and Drake in their pursuit of dance music escapism. It also features Grande extolling the virtues of authenticity and self-assurance — she doesn't care anymore! She's her own fucking best friend! 

The song was written and produced by Grande alongside longtime collaborators Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh. The video, directed by Christian Breslauer, seems heavily inspired by Paula Abdul's 1988 video for "Cold Hearted," and finds Grande and a troupe of dancers in a drafty warehouse, performing the new single for a crowd of judgy, unimpressed critics who — gasp! — become inspired by song's end. 

Grande recently revealed in an Instagram story that, while "yes, and?" isn't the name of her forthcoming seventh album, the single's artwork will be one of the record's cover variants.

Check out the video below. 

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