As her third single and video (or second, if you want to look at “The Light Is Coming” as “promotional”), from the upcoming Sweetener album (to be released August 17th–Sean Penn’s birthday, we’ll get to Madonna in a moment), Ariana Grande has not only taken an even more empowered stance than the one on “No Tears Left to Cry” (directed by Dave Meyers as well), but also mercifully given us a much better visual than the one she most recently appeared in, that blemish upon Hype Williams’ videography, Nicki Minaj’s “Bed.”
As we commence with Grande wielding the Milky Way like a hula hoop for her own distinct pleasure as she stands atop Earth in stiletto boots, we then delve right into the imagery that proves just how much woman is the source of all creation as she lays tranquilly in a vaginal galaxy colored in pastels. As soaped up men writhe around her (much to Pete Davidson’s dismay), Grande sings, “I don’t wanna waste no time, yeah/You ain’t got a one-track mind, yeah/Have it any way you like, yeah.” But more than offering herself to the former gods deemed as men, Grande is saying that she is the one ultimately gaining all the pleasure when a man who knows what he’s doing–who knows how to worship at the altar of the divine (pussy)–is allowed entry into her precious temple. She continues, “And I can tell that you know I know how I want it/Ain’t nobody else can relate/Boy, I like that you ain’t afraid/Baby, lay me down and let’s pray/I’m tellin’ you the way I like it, how I want it.”
At this point removed from her celestial boudoir, Grande sits on a marble slab on a book–presumably a dictionary–where tiny little men hurtle stock insults at her–“fake,” “bitch” and “annoying” among the most cliche. She sits there immune to their verbal vitriol, relishing her impervious, god-like strength in the face of adversity, of which women persist in taking in stride. This much is elucidated as Grande stands at the forefront of a horde of women of all varieties in between the backdrop of animated wolves behind her (one can only hope it has to be a reference to the now iconic book…but is likely a nod to Harry Potter).
And when this God that is woman is not gently fingering the Earth (would that we could actually feel some of those orgasmic benefits instead of what we seem to be feeling in the form of shitty governments worldwide), she is conjuring the seemingly random appearance of screeching gophers. But for anyone familiar with their symbolism, it is believed, depending on the folklore in question, that gophers are either an omen of death or creation. Maybe it’s a bit of both where this video is concerned, with Grande aiming to spearhead the endless quest in shattering the patriarchy–in short, total destruction, per the iteration of the Donnie Darko screenplay, is creation. For woman created man and she can take away his life as well (it’s called the Lysistrata method).
As she gets the animated A-ha treatment, Ariana travels the lands, threatens pregnancy and generally oversees her dominion. This leads into the much talked about supposed Madonna collaboration, with Madonna borrowing from the original Ezekiel/Pulp Fiction text:
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the
Inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men
Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will
shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness
for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children
And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious
Anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers
And you will know
My name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee
Substitute “brothers” for “sisters” and you’ve got yourself a feminist text when rendered warningly by Madonna (now Samuel L. Jackson’s competition). Plus, Madonna’s been all for feminist texts of late, after also recently reciting one of Rupi Kaur’s poems on her Instagram (always the scandal-making affair). Additionally, she’s clearly got to be game for helping us expunge that other “God Is…” song title from the cultural lexicon, P!NK’s “God Is A DJ.” It used to be, “If god is a DJ, life is a dance floor.” Now, hopefully, it’s, “If god is a woman, life is a buffet.”
Toward the video’s final flames (and yes, Ariana does appear inside of a flame to make further reference to orgasms), Grande appears as an armed, Thor-like warrior with hammer in tow, making the caution against trifling with women feel pretty real (particularly with a legion as devoted as the Arianators). The song cleverly vacillates between allusions to a woman’s ability to do anything a man can do better (“And I can be all the things you tell me not to be/When you try to come for me, I keep on flourishing”) and the endlessly irrefutable power of the one thing a woman still has to lord over the last straight, non-gender fluid men: her vag. This is why she teasingly goads them all over the residual effects of her ability to make a man see god when he cums, accusing, “It lingers when we’re done, you believe God is a woman.” As she lets the choir sing (making a “Like A Prayer” reference), it’s evident that Grande is confident in the divine clout of women, particularly when they join together in a cause (lest we forget the Women’s March, which we probably have considering far more terrible things have happened since that day).
Not one for letting any Jay-Z and Beyoncé-helmed trends evade her, Grande is also wont to conclude the video with a reworking of Michelangelo’s masterpiece, “The Creation of Adam,” with herself narcissistically replacing God as she creates the first woman. In terms of revisionist history, it’s not the worst imagining. Neither is Madonna as the voice of God (do we feel a female reworking Bruce Almighty coming on with a built-in cast as a result of this video? Plz god plz).
