Ariana Grande Had An Alternative Version Of Thank U, Next In Case She Made Up With Pete Davidson

Ariana Grande - "thank u, next" music video

In the annals of 2018 romances, the short-lived love affair/engagement between Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande was arguably the most famous. It was a fire that burned brightly, but it also blew out just as quickly. And there was no shortage of reporting on the millennial coupling. But it came to its conclusion -- at least, in terms of pop culture coverage -- with Grande's hit break-up single, "thank u, next," a self-love anthem about finding yourself. But there was once a point in time where the song was set to turn out differently. As Grande admits, she had an alternative version of the song in mind in case she and Davidson decided to renew their romance. Alas, that didn't ultimately pan out, and Grande's tune remains as it was conceived, saying:

In my relationship at the time, thing were up-and-down and on-and-off, and so I didn't know what was gonna happen. And then we got back together, so I had to make a different version of it, and then we broke up again, so we ended up going with that version.

The conversation came up during Ariana Grande's interview with The Zach Sang Show on Saturday. As the popular pop musician recounted, she actually put together three versions of her hit single before deciding upon the one that made its way onto the radio and to the top of the charts a few months ago. There was a version of the song where she didn't mention the names of her ex-boyfriends, including the late Mac Miller, because she was "very nervous" about putting those names out there and fueling the Internet's fire. But she felt it was important to release the song as it was intended.

I was very nervous to share it because I knew that as soon as people heard the names they were going to be like, 'run that back one more time, what the fuck is she doing?'... It still was like, OK, I'm embracing my mistakes and what I've done... but it was just less direct. And everyone, including me, was kind of like, 'this is not the version.' But I was also trying to be protective, you know?

You can watch the interview with Ariana Grande below.

Ultimately, Ariana Grande felt the "big risk" in releasing the song was worth it, and she claims that everyone she has gotten in contact with about the song has been "very supportive" of it. With that, "thank u, next" was a risk that ultimately paid off for the singer, particularly with the release of her new album of the same name this past week. And it is a very exciting time for the musician since she just won her first Grammy award this past weekend for Best Pop Vocal Album. She won the coveted award for her forth studio album, Sweetner, but she was ultimately not in attendance for it.

Will Ashton

Will is an entertainment writer based in Pittsburgh, PA. His writing can also be found in The Playlist, Cut Print Film, We Got This Covered, The Young Folks, Slate and other outlets. He also co-hosts the weekly film/TV podcast Cinemaholics with Jon Negroni and he likes to think he's a professional Garfield enthusiast.