Grammy-nominee and singer/songwriter Ariana Grande recently released her new single with the provocative title, “God Is a Woman”. It is the second single from her upcoming fourth album “Sweetener”. This song came just hours before the release of its music video (MV).
“God IS a Woman” MV
The music video opens with Ariana standing in the center of the milky way galaxy dancing to the lyrics, “You love it how I move you. You love it how I touch you”. It portrays Ariana as some kind of god of the universe and how she has control over the man in her life.
The video is a salute to woman power and the influence she can wield in a man. It rallies women together to not take any kind of abuse, especially from men. A scene from the video shows white males throwing all kinds of abusive words, like “fake” and “stupid”, at her. These words just bounce off her and do not cause her any harm. The MV ends with a female version of Michelangelo’s fresco, the “Creation of Adam”. She is seen reaching out her hand to a colored woman like God reaching out to Adam.
On the other hand, the lyrics of the song actually claim that a man will believe that she is a god after she touches and stays with him. The song was written by Grande, Rickard Göransson, Savan Kotecha, Max Martin, and Ilya Salmanzadeh. It was produced by Ilya for MXM. The video was directed by Dave Meyers.
Album Inspiration
In an interview with Jimmy Fallon of “The Tonight Show”, Ariana revealed that the song “God is a Woman” is actually her grandmother’s favorite. Ariana says events in the past two years are the inspiration to these songs.
One major event was the Manchester Arena Bombing. In May 2017, a suicide bomb was detonated just when people were leaving the arena after Ariana Grande’s concert. There were twenty-three people killed in the incident, including the attacker. Children comprised more than half of the 139 initially reported as injured in the incident. However, authorities set the total account to 800 a year later to include those who suffered psychological trauma or slight injuries.
Two weeks after the incident, Ariana returned to Manchester for a benefit concert. Dubbed as the “One Love Manchester” Concert, it had the participation of other big-time performers. The proceeds of the show went to the British Red Cross and the Manchester City Council. It was able to raise more than €17 million from concert ticket, broadcast, and online streaming sales.
Reception of the “God is a Woman” Video
The video debuted to mixed reviews on July 13, 2018. Some online entertainment columnists like Forbes Magazines’ Bryan Colli, V Magazine’s AJ Longabaugh, and others praised the vocal acrobatics Ariana displayed in this song, saying that her performance showed a level of maturity missing in her last two singles. The reviewers also appreciated the visual appeal of the video. Some viewers also think that the video is quite bizarre with its religious imagery.
But the positive reviews actually do not erase the possibility of theological debates that this video may raise. However, there were many songs that came before Ariana’s God is Woman. Only time will tell if it lives on in the minds of its listeners.
Upcoming Appearances and Concerts
Ariana Grande has already released two singles from her forthcoming album “Sweetener”. This holds the promise that a concert tour is not far behind. Once her tour kicks off, be sure to get her concert tickets from legitimate sources.