Back in March, Ariana Grande released her album eternal sunshine. That was a big album that launched two #1 hits, but given this spring’s deluge of albums from gigantic pop stars, it feels like it came out a long time ago. Grande is now hyping up her role in the big musical Wicked, and she would very much like to stay in the public eye. To that end, she’s giving a big push to the eternal sunshine track “the boy is mine,” with an elaborate video and a Tonight Show performance.
Grande’s “the boy is mine” isn’t a cover or an interpolation of Brandy and Monica’s giant 1998 summer jam, but the title is a clear reference, and the song works to evoke that era of poppy R&B. In director Christian Breslauer’s video, she play a version of Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman from Batman Returns, with all the heightened aesthetics that you’d expect. Brandy and Monica make a cameo as newscasters, and the clip follows Grande as she tries to does her city’s hot mayor with love potion. Penn Badgley, from Gossip Girl and You, plays the hot mayor.
On last night’s Tonight Show, Ariana Grande hyped up the video and her appearance for Wicked, doing a very gushy interview with Jimmy Fallon. (Grande to Fallon: “Are you my mom or my publicist?” She says that like it’s a good thing.) She also put on the Catwoman gear to perform “the boy is mine” on a fake rooftop, with the Roots backing her up. Below, watch the video, the performance, and the interview.
eternal sunshine is out now on Republic.
