Access to social media means we don't have to wait for our favorite celebrities. Depending on how open they are, we can get photos, reactions, releases, and more, all with lightning speed. And nobody is better at the social media game than Ariana Grande. The singer-songwriter-actress could teach a masterclass on building suspense for her new songs off her fifth album, which she's been releasing one at a time. First, there was "Thank U, Next," which sent Twitter and the world at large into a frenzy. Now, there's "Imagine," and Ariana knew exactly how to get her fans excited.
Per People, the new romantic ballad may actually be a reference to John Lennon's song of the same title. It's about "denial," according to Grande, and envisioning a different future for her "failed yet important beautiful relationships." It's quite a change from her fluffy, upbeat "Thank U, Next" and its star-studded music video with a million movie references. That one was all about "acceptance," according to Grande.
The singer was in rare form last night. She retweeted her fans counting down by the hour until release, and even joined in on Twitter and Instagram. There were screenshots of the lyrics video (below) on her computer and the song playing on her phone. There were random shots of her dogs, clearly less enthused than she was, on her Instagram stories. Two hours before the song release, she actually started tweeting lyrics from the song—fans went wild. Right now, some of those lyrics have more retweets than the tweet with the actual song link.
Miley Cyrus was also releasing a song last night ("War Is Over," also potentially inspired by Lennon). But instead of competing, Grande recognized her fellow singer, and managed to throw some shade to Drake and Kanye's Twitter fight while she was at it:
She really, really knows how to get people excited. Listen to "Imagine" below, while we wait for another inspired video.
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