Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored

Album: Thank U, Next (2019)
Charted: 1 2
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This slow and slinky jam finds Ariana Grande in a vampish mood as she falls for a man who is already in relationship. She tells him if he breaks up with his girlfriend, she's all his.
  • Arianators speculated that Grande is addressing one of her famous exes, perhaps Big Sean or Pete Davidson. However, on the bridge Grande states that she's "never even ever" met the guy she's infatuated with.
  • Grande wrote the tongue-in-cheek ode to lust with Max Martin, Ilya Salmanzadeh and Savan Kotecha. The same quartet also co-wrote "No Tears Left to Cry" and "God Is A Woman," two of the singles released from Sweetener.

    Martin and Ilya were also responsible for the song's glossy pop-trap production.
  • On the bridge, Grande interpolates *NSYNC's 1999 track "It Makes Me Ill." She borrows the melody of the boy band's original, as well as tweaking some of its lyrics.
  • The song's music video was directed by Grande's frequent collaborator Hannah Lux Davis and features a love triangle involving Grande, Riverdale's Charles Melton, and his girlfriend, played by model Ariel Yasmine. Playing on the fact that Ariel looks strikingly like the singer, the clip follows Grande in her attempts to drive a wedge between the couple. However, she ends up hooking up with her doppleganger.

Comments: 1

  • Nick from 6922 West Dunbar I Thought This Was A Tv Show
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Grateful Dead Characters

Grateful Dead CharactersMusic Quiz

Many unusual folks appear in Grateful Dead songs. Can you identify them?

Sam Hollander

Sam HollanderSongwriter Interviews

The hitmaking songwriter/producer Sam Hollander with stories about songs for Weezer, Panic! At The Disco, Train, Pentatonix, and Fitz And The Tantrums.

Edwin McCain

Edwin McCainSongwriter Interviews

"I'll Be" was what Edwin called his "Hail Mary" song. He says it proves "intention of the songwriter is 180 degrees from potential interpretation by an audience."

16 Songs With a Heartbeat

16 Songs With a HeartbeatSong Writing

We've heard of artists putting their hearts into their music, but some take it literally.

Alan Merrill of The Arrows

Alan Merrill of The ArrowsSongwriter Interviews

In her days with The Runaways, Joan Jett saw The Arrows perform "I Love Rock And Roll," which Alan Merrill co-wrote - that story and much more from this glam rock pioneer.

Al Kooper

Al KooperSongwriter Interviews

Kooper produced Lynyrd Skynyrd, played with Dylan and the Stones, and formed BS&T.