As a “thank u” to her fans but more to “7 Rings” co-writer Victoria Monét herself, Ariana Grande has, once again, overwhelmed the world with an endless flow of new music in the form of “Monopoly.” More than just thematically similar to “7 Rings” in title and “staying right in your bag,” “Monopoly” explores the benefits of an intimate, “twinny twin twin” (though this is also a weed reference) friendship that can result in record-breaking success. That’s right, rather than focus on six friendships against the tableau of Tiffany’s as Grande did with “7 Rings,” this time she’s focusing on just one: her rapport with Monét, who commences the track with board game imagery right away in the form of, “I’ve been on a roll, where you been?,” taunting any of her haters with the reference to co-writing the biggest hits from Grande’s latest album.
Written and recorded at an incredible pace–especially when considering that her previous album, Sweetener, was released barely six months prior–Grande jokes to Monét in the song, “Remember when we made a fuckin’ album off that Clicquot?” Ah, how nostalgic millennials get about the immediate past. But it’s “sixty percent pink Veuve Clicquot” that got the album out so quickly in terms of inspiring through the loss of inhibition.
A loss that turned out to be a huge gain for both Monét and Grande, who both “treat [their] goals like property/Collect them like Monopoly.” And, in addition to collecting checks, they’ve collected irreplaceable memories both in the studio and on tour, hence the close dynamic that shines through in the accompanying lo-tech video (though some of those edits of shooting words and emojis take hours to add in, that’s no lie) for the track.
Capturing the playful, “been through it all together” vibes of the duo are co-directors Ricky Alvarez (that’s right, the same “Ricky” immortalized as one of Ariana’s exes in the “thank u, next” lyrics) and fellow photographer Alfredo Flores, offering scenes of Monét and Grande yukking it up in moments that mirror the look and tone of the Broad City episode, “Stories” (because creating videos for “the gram” with your friends is the only mark of true twenty-first century friendship–which is probably why so many friendships feel hollow).
The song itself is just two minutes and thirty-six seconds (further proving that, music, like all media, is getting shorter to accommodate the average attention span) to “7 Rings'” two minutes, fifty-nine–but that’s all it takes to embody how much “this been buildin’ up, I guess this friendship like Home Depot.” It’s a somewhat problematic simile, but you get the point. Plus, when you’re discussing just one friendship, it’s about the quality of the description, not its length. And based on the like-minded goals that both Grande and Monét seek to collect like property, there could be many sequels to the concept behind “Monopoly,” itself a sequel to “7 Rings” (because they probably wanted to not “give up that 90% for the win” to another dead songwriting duo this time around). On a side note, L.A.-based vocal coach Eric Vetro is going to need a twinny twin twin himself after all the extra business his name shoutout in the song is about to bring. Maybe even Monopoly, too, if since it just got that searing in its aim toward millennials update and all.
