Fans Speculate Ariana Grande’s New Music Video Is About Ex Dalton Gomez

While it’s been a quiet three-and-a-half years for Grande on the music front, her name has been plastered across headlines over the past year due to her relationships with ex-husband Dalton Gomez and new boyfriend Ethan Slater.

Before the video dropped, some fans believed the lyrics for the single were specifically about Grande’s relationship with the press. In the chorus, Grande seemed to address the tabloids and the people who’ve turned on her.

“We can’t be friends / But I’d like to just pretend / You cling to your papers and pens / Wait until you like me again / Wait for your love / My love, I’ll wait for your love,” Grande sings on the chorus.

However, since the video dropped, it now seems 30-year-old singer could be singing about several different people — and there are already fan theories spreading across social media.

In the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-inspired footage Grande is seen signing a contract that reads, “You have given extensive thought behind your decision and give ‘Brighter Days Inc.’ the exclusive permission to remove this person completely from your memory.” She then signs it with the name “Peaches” and is brought into a doctors office.

The video then shows Grande having memory of a certain relationship with a man — played by Evan Peters — erased.

Some have speculated the song is about her split from Gomez, as she sings lyrics like, “Just wanna let this story die and I’ll be alright” and “I didn’t think you’d understand me / How could you ever even try?”

Others feel the song could be about the beginning of her relationship with Slater, and not wanting to just be friends with him, while he was still married.

Some believe both Peters and the man she finds herself with at the end of the video also look like Gomez and Slater, respectively.

Speaking with Zane Lowe about the video, Grande said it’s up for interpretation.

“It fits the concept, I think in a different way for me than it does for most of my friends and most of my family and they interpret it differently, which I love about that song,” she said. “Because I think it can be applied to any kind of relationship, really, especially when you see the video. I think you’ll understand the importance of it. The video that we made for ‘We Can’t Be Friends’ really, to me, is the album in a video.”

Ahead of the album’s release, the Wicked star shared a video on Instagram in which she said it was “kind of a concept album” and it’s all piece of the “same story and experience.” She promised the songs will be “vulnerable” but also “play the part of what people expect her to be.”

Grande and Slater’s relationship is a love story that shocked the pop culture world. The 30-year-old singer found her name plastered across headlines in 2023 due to their relationship following her split from Gomez. Grande has faced constant public backlash because she and Slater were married to different people when they met.

In July, 2023 TMZ reported that Grande and Gomez had split in January. A few days later, sources told the outlet Grande and Slater started dating several months prior, with the two first meeting while shooting Wicked.

Slater also split from wife Lilly Jay, his high school sweetheart. They filed for divorce six days after Slater was publicly linked to Grande. Per TMZ, the couple’s romance didn’t start until after Slater’s separation from his now-estranged wife, with whom he shares a son. Grande’s divorce from Gomez was finalized in October.

Jay told The Daily Mail in August, 2023 she is “focused on rebuilding a life for our son,” she said. “This is what I am trying to do and this is my only focus.”