Republic RecordsAfter days and days of teases, Ariana Grande’s video for “thank u, next” has finally arrived, and as promised, it’s a call-back to four of her favorite movies: Mean Girls, Bring It On, Legally Blonde and 13 Going on 30.
The video opens with what we’ve all seen in the trailer — the “Regina George is flawless”-inspired montage where everyone talks about Ariana. Then we see Ariana and other girls dressed as The Plastics, walking through the school halls. We also see them doing the sexy Mean Girls “Santa Dance,” with none other than Kris Jenner as the “cool” mom in the audience shooting videos.
That’s followed by cheerleading scenes from Bring It On, and then a 13 Going on 30 scene: Ariana runs away from the wedding with her dollhouse. When the magic dust lands on her, she’s transformed into Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, wearing pink from head to toe, with her dog Toulouse trailing after her in a fashionable ensemble, just like Elle’s dog Bruiser.
A spoken word interlude follows where Ariana talks to Jennifer Coolidge — reprising her Legally Blonde role as Paulette — in the nail salon. “He was really cute, you know. And it was really big,” says Ariana.
“Well, I’ve only gone out with one guy that had a big front tooth,” Paulette replies. “And I liked that ’cause he never got anything stuck in the front teeth. But have you ever gone out with someone that had no teeth at all?”
“No,” replies Ariana. But she leads the entire salon in Elle’s signature “bend and snap” move.
The rest of the video plays out as a montage of scenes from all four movies. The final scene: Kris Jenner in the audience with her video camera, saying, “Thank you, next, b****!”
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