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Ari said it with her chest. On her new album Eternal Sunshine, Ariana Grande includes a track called “The Boy Is Mine,” which interpolates Brandy and Monica’s famous duet of the same name. Whereas the 1998 original featured the two singers arguing over a man, Grande’s version is all from her perspective. However, she channels the same defiant energy: “The boy is mine / I can’t wait to try him,” she sings in her chorus.
Given the recent backlash around her relationships and personal life, Grande knew what she was walking into with the release of this song. She told Zane Lowe in a new interview, “This is a very bad idea, I think, but there is a large group of my fans that really, they do love a bad girl anthem. And this is, I think, I kind of an elevated version of that.”
She also explained that she was inspired to write it after seeing her fans’ reaction to her viral unreleased song “Fantasize,” “because they love it so much.”
Grande noted this was one of the first songs she wrote with Max Martin, pop hitmaker and one of her frequent collaborators, for the album. Other writers credited on it are DaviDior and Shintaro Yasuda. “Everything fell into place with that tempo change though,” she said.
She added that the song intentionally follows “True Story” in the track list, serving as the bad girl anthem she mentions in that song. “True Story,” by the way, is “an untrue story based on all untrue events,” Grande told Lowe. Fans also noticed that the “The Boy Is Mine” is followed by “Yes, And?” her unapologetic first single.
Grande has been adamant, though, that Eternal Sunshine is a concept album, which allowed her some creative freedom. “You can pull from your truth, you can pull from a concept, you can pull from a film, from a story you’re telling. From a story about a relationship that a friend told you. Art is really, it can come from anywhere,” she told Lowe.
Still, the pop star hopes the that the album might help quell rumors and media scrutiny around her life. She said in an interview with Zach Sang, “I’m so nervous because pieces of it touch on things that are real and then pieces of it are also just like, yeah, part of the concept. So what is that separation, and it’s so scary to leave it up to these selective-memory people to decipher. It’s scary, but I digress. Too late, the vinyls have been printed.”
Listen to “The Boy Is Mine” and read the full lyrics below via Genius.
[Verse 1]
How can it be? You and me
Might be meant to be, can’t unsee it
But I don’t wanna cause no scene
I’m usually so unproblematic
So independent
Tell me why
‘Cause the boy is mine, mine[Pre-Chorus]
Somethin’ about him is made for somebody like me
Baby, come over, come over (Oh my)
And God knows I’m tryin’
But there’s just no use in denying[Chorus]
The boy is mine
I can’t wait to try him
Let-let’s get intertwined
The stars, they aligned
The boy is minе
Watch me take my time
I can’t bеlieve my mind
The boy is divine
The boy is mine[Verse 2]
Please know this ain’t what I planned for
Probably wouldn’t bet a dime or my life on
There’s gotta be a reason why
My girls, they always come through in a sticky situation
Say it’s fine (It’s fine)
Happens all the time-ime[Pre-Chorus]
Somethin’ about him is made for somebody like me
Baby, come over, come over (Oh my)
And God knows I’m tryin’
But there’s just no use in denying[Chorus]
The boy is mine
I can’t wait to try him
Let-let’s get intertwined
The stars, they aligned
The boy is mine
Watch me take my time
I can’t believe my mind
The boy is divine
The boy is mine[Bridge]
And I know it’s simply meant to be
And I, I take full accountability for all these years
Promise you I’m not usually
Like this, shit, it’s like news to me, to me
But I can’t ignore my heart, boy[Chorus]
The boy is mine (Oh)
I can’t wait to try him
Let-let’s get intertwined
The stars, they aligned
The boy is mine
Watch me take my time
I can’t believe my mind
The boy is divine
The boy is mine