Music

Ariana Grande has been making headlines for years, first for her role as Cat Valentine on the hit show Victorious, where many were first introduced to her powerful vocals. From there, Ms. Grande went on to have an impeccable musical career, all while continuing to hit the big screen, most recently in Wicked, playing Glinda Upland, the “Good Witch,” in what became a two-part rendition of the beloved musical.

Amid all her success as an actress, Ariana has been working behind the scenes on her recently released eighth album, Petal. While on tour and as part of the album, Ms. Grande released a visual titled “Petals” as well.

Billboard recently published an article detailing Ariana’s impending break and the reasons behind it — and part of that reason is the derision she’s faced, which the “Petals” visual chops away at, quite literally. Per a statement from Ariana’s team to Billboard, a break is imminent following the Eternal Sunshine Tour. She’s finishing out her run with upcoming shows in Chicago and London on August 3rd, 5th, and 6th, then August 15th, 16th, 19th, and more before wrapping with a final date on September 1st.

The Video

In their article, Billboard mentioned the “Petals” video, in which Ariana hacks away at her critics. Call us clueless, because their description of what happens in the video and our imagination did not do the actual thing any justice. Ms. Grande doesn’t just hack away at paper or mannequins, like you’d imagine, or rather, as we imagined.

The video is set in 1950s-era Hollywood, with Ariana, or Pepper as she’s named in the video, repeatedly denied roles because of her appearance. Each time, a big red stamp lands on her call sheet: NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Pepper repeats the same cycle several times, only to be labeled again and again, until the last time, when the executives go off the deep end, ridiculing her. The men give voice to all the horrid things that had only ever been written on those call sheets — desperate, inauthentic, vocally flat.

That’s when Pepper politely excuses herself, and comes back with a chainsaw.

We watch her silhouette as she cranks it up before hacking away at the men who picked her apart. The most notable part of it all: Pepper often changed herself based on their critiques before she snapped, and each time, she still wasn’t good enough.

The Petals

In the song, the lyrics say, “tired of painting endless pictures of a life that isn’t mine.” Pepper spent the whole video changing herself to match whatever the executives wanted. Another line: “but I am not a victim, bitch…”

Throughout the video, Pepper keeps walking past a flower growing through the crack of her Hollywood star, and each time, it loses a petal. It’s not until the very end, when she stops trying to reshape herself to fit their idea of who she should be, that the flower stops losing petals. The moment she silences the voice of their critiques, the flower and Pepper become hopeful again.

Our Take

We’re unsure whether Ariana intended to pack this much nuance into the video, but we at So She Speaks can’t help but connect the dots. Pepper; Ariana — kept becoming someone else to fit everyone else’s narrative of who she should be, at her own expense. If that dying flower is anything to go by, every time Pepper let herself be altered, she lost a piece of herself, right up until she finally chose Pepper. Only then did the petals stop falling.

We can’t give you a direct quote from Ms. Grande on her mental space while making “Petals.” We can draw our own conclusion, and here’s ours: you can take everyone’s opinion on who you are and what you should look like into consideration, and slowly lose yourself trying to fit a story line that was never written for you. Or you can stay true to who you are, march to the beat of your own drum, and hold onto real happiness, no matter how the world views you. Because at the end of the day, the only person who has to live with the Pepper that is you is you.