Ariana Grande re-imagines Brandy & Monica’s queer anthem ‘The Boy Is Mine’ on Eternal Sunshine
The singer spoke about the track in an Apple Music interview. (Apple Music/YouTube)
Ariana Grande has re-imagined Brandy & Monica’s queer anthem ‘The Boy Is Mine’ on her new album Eternal Sunshine, and we’re gagged.
Ahead of the release of her new album out today (8 March), the singer spoke to Zane Lowe for an Apple Music interview to discuss one of her most highly anticipated tracks on the album, ‘The Boy Is Mine’. The song name already garnered attention following her highly-publicised rumoured relationship with Wicked co-star Ethan Slater.
Lowe asked whether the track that comes before her re-imagining of the 1998 track is fictionalised. Grande confirmed this, saying that ‘True Story’ is “an untrue story based on all untrue events. It sets up ‘The Boy Is Mine,’ obviously”.
“It’s kind of like, ‘I’ll play the bad girl, now here’s your bad girl anthem. That’s why they’re in that order on the tracklist.”
The Wicked star said she had long dreamt about putting her spin on the R&B classic — which has long been hailed as queer anthem, and even landed a spot on LGBTQ+ classic series Glee — explaining that the fan reaction to the leaked track ‘Fantasize‘ was enough to inspire her.
“This is a very bad idea, I think, but there is a large group of my fans that love a bad girl anthem, and this is an elevated version of that.”
Of course, the original track narrates two women claiming that “the boy” is theirs, with lyrics like: “I’m sorry that you / Seem to be confused / He belongs to me / The boy is mine.”
Meanwhile, Grande’s leaked track — which forms part of her version of ‘The Boy Is Mine’ — includes lyrics: “Thought you were solo / But you got a girl though” and ” I fantasize about it all the time / If you were mine.”
The ‘Positions’ hitmaker spoke about the unreleased track going viral on TikTok on the Zach Sang Show on 27 February, telling listeners: “Thank you so much. I’ll see you in jail – literally.”
“It was like a parody of this girl group vibe. But [the fans] love it… It’s so corny, but it’s okay. I took the note and I kind of gave them Ariana’s version of that on the album.
“They’re completely different now. So although you’ve heard them — because you stole them — they’re very different now,” she revealed.
Eternal Sunshine is out on 8 March.
