The Boy Is Mine (Ariana Grande song)

"The Boy Is Mine" is a song by American singer Ariana Grande from her seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshine (2024). It impacted American contemporary hit radio on June 11, 2024, as the third single from the album. The song was written by Grande, Max Martin, Shintaro Yasuda, and Davidior, who produced the song alongside Ilya. Inspired by a leaked demo Grande made for a comedy sketch, the song is an R&B track that reimagines the 1998 duet of the same name by American singers Brandy and Monica.

Upon release, "The Boy is Mine" received positive reviews from music critics for its '90s R&B sound and sultry lyrical content. The song peaked within the top 20 of the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian Hot 100 as an album track. A music video directed by Christian Breslauer was released on June 7, 2024 starring Grande as Catwoman and American actor Penn Badgley as her love interest, with additional cameos from Brandy and Monica. Two weeks later, a remix of the song with Brandy and Monica was released on June 21, 2024.

Background
An unreleased song by Grande entitled "Fantasize" by fans was leaked in full to Spotify in 2023. Recorded in 2021, Grande said that the song was a demo that was not intended to be released as a single by her and that she wrote it for a comedy sketch about a girl group that ultimately was not released. Upon learning of the leak, she commented under a TikTok video that she was disheartened and asked people to stop spreading the leaks.

"Fantasize" received positive fan reception, inspiring Grande to include elements of the song in her seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshine (2024). According to Grande, the song was one of the first ideas she and Max Martin worked on for the album. During an interview about the album, Grande referred to "The Boy Is Mine" as her version of "Fantasize" and stated about her leaked songs "although you've heard them — because you stole them — they're very different now."

Music and lyrics
"The Boy Is Mine" is two minutes and 53 seconds long. As intended by Grande when creating the parent album's tracklist, the song follows and plays off the same idea of the album's seventh track, "True Story", playing the role the media expects her to play. The song is described as an R&B song with bass-heavy instrumentation echoing late 90's and early 2000's R&B music.

Grande described "The Boy Is Mine" as a reimagining of the similarly titled 1998 single by Brandy and Monica, which was about two women fighting over the affection of one man. She was inspired by her fans' appreciation for "Fantasize" because of what she called its "bad bitch" energy, and she told Zane Lowe during an Apple Music 1 interview: "there is a large group of my fans that really do love a bad girl anthem, and this is an elevated version of that." In the lyrics, Grande expresses her affection for a man with whom she believes she is destined to be in a romance.

Music video
Grande announced on May 27 that the music video for "The Boy Is Mine" would be released on June 7. Christian Breslauer, who worked on the visuals for both "Yes, And?" and "We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)" from Eternal Sunshine, commented on Grande's teaser and shared the sneak peek on his own Instagram account. "Get your popcorn, take your seats," Breslauer wrote on Grande's post; "ACT III… soon", said the music video director on his personal Instagram page.

The music video features Grande as Catwoman, and Penn Badgley as the mayor of the city who has released feral cats into the streets to eradicate a rat infestation. R&B singers Brandy and Monica make a cameo appearance as news anchors reporting on the rat crisis. The video features Grande's Victorious co-star, Elizabeth Gillies, providing the sound effects for the rats.

Synopsis
The video begins with a garbage collector complaining about the mayor before getting attacked by rats. Grande is seen looking at a glowing pink potion, later turning her attention to two news reporters on the television. It is revealed that the mayor, Max Starling, has a plan to exterminate the city's rodent infestation by using the large numbers of stray cats roaming around. A cat sneaks into Grande's open apartment window and knocks over the potion, alarming Grande.

The song begins and Grande starts gathering the spilled potion with a syringe and putting into a vial. During the chorus, she runs over to her personal shrine of the mayor, who she is in love with. She spins around, before grabbing black clothing from her closet. She is seen cutting the fabrics of the clothes and sewing. The next scene is set at night, atop a building complex in front of a city skyline. Grande is donning brunette shoulder-length hair and a black cat mask covering her eyes. Her attire is now an all black dominatrix outfit with a skirt and a whip, which she cracks. She then is seen running and jumping over buildings before arriving to the mayor's apartment overhead window. With her glove's cat-like sharpened nails, she traces a circle on the window glass and licking her hand to cut it out.

The music stops and the scene is set inside Mayor Starling's apartment, where he soaks his face into ice bath. Grande sneaks up to the bathroom door, admiring him until he catches a glimpse of her. She runs off and he follows, looking shocked and dropping a glass of alcohol. The song's chorus continues and Grande is seen on his bed, laid out seductively and displaying cat-like actions. Mayor Starling attempts to make an escape before Grande strikes her whip at him, grabbing his foot. During the bridge, she pulls him over to the bed slowly. She walks over to him, holding the love potion in an attempt to have him consume it. He stops her, and reaching over to her mask to reveal her face. He throws the potion at the wall and the song ends.

During the credits, Grande and Starling are now together in an apartment, feeding a cat in their lap. Surrounding them are many cats roaming around.

Live performances
The first time Grande performed "The Boy Is Mine" was at the 2024 Met Gala. Grande's full performance at the 2024 Met Gala was not officially published online. On June 6, Grande performed the song for the first time on live television at The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and she was accompanied by the show's house band The Roots. This was Grande's first late night interview since 2021 and her 11th appearance on The Tonight Show.

Critical reception
The song received positive reviews from music critics upon release of the parent album. In a ranking of tracks from the parent album, Kyle Denis of Billboard ranked the song at number four in a track ranking of the album. Denis received the song positively, noting its tongue-in-cheek nature and the '90s R&B sound similar to "Fantasize". Rolling Stone called the song a "late Nineties, early Aughts, R&B-pop moment" also commenting on the fact that the song might bring controversy amongst rumors involving Grande and Ethan Slater. Jem Aswad of Variety called the song "comparatively sprightly" and felt the song was an outlier amongst the rest of the album. Laura Snappes of The Guardian referred to the song as "trap-Aaliyah hauteur", also calling it "possessive". Poppie Platt of The Daily Telegraph claimed the song stands on its own against the song of the same name, describing as a "silky ode to love and lust". Lindsay Zoladz of The New York Times described it as "a lusty song about a forbidden crush" and likened its "stuttering" percussion to that of the boy-bands Max Martin has worked with before.

Commercial performance
Prior to its release as a single, "The Boy Is Mine" debuted at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 as the highest charting album track. Globally, "The Boy Is Mine" charted on the Billboard Global 200 chart, at number eleven, on the issue dated March 23, 2024.

Several months later, "The Boy Is Mine" debuted at number 38 on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 airplay chart, rising to number 31 in its second week.

Credits
Recording


 * Mixed at Mixstar Studios (Virginia Beach)
 * Mastered at Sterling Sound (New York City)

Personnel


 * Ariana Grande – vocals, lyrics, composition, production
 * Max Martin – lyrics, production, composition, drums, keyboards, bass, programming, background vocals
 * Ilya Salmanzadeh – production, composition, drums, keyboards, bass, programming, background vocals
 * Shintaro Yasuda – production, composition, keyboards, drums, programming
 * Davidior – production, composition, drums, programming
 * Sam Holland – engineering
 * Lou Carrao – engineering
 * Eric Eylands – engineering assistance
 * Rob Sellens – engineering assistance
 * Randy Merrill – mastering
 * Serban Ghenea – mixing
 * Bryce Bordone – mixing assistance

Track listing
Streaming/digital download – single
 * 1) "The Boy Is Mine" – 2:53
 * 2) "The Boy Is Mine" (a capella) – 2:43
 * 3) "The Boy Is Mine" (instrumental) – 2:53
 * 4) "The Boy Is Mine" (remix) – 3:33
 * 5) "The Boy Is Mine" (remix a capella) – 3:32

Remix
"“It was all Ariana actually. What came first was the release of her version of [The Boy Is Mine], Brandy and I both loving it, and then the converstation ensued about us being in the video, and somewhere along the way the conversation was had about having us on the remix.”"On June 17, 2024, Ariana Grande announced a remix of "The Boy is Mine" with American singers Brandy and Monica, which was released on June 21. Brandy and Monica, whose 1998 duet of the same name inspired Grande's song, first made cameo appearances as newscasters in the music video for her song, which then led to their participation in the remix.

Prior to its release, Monica had been vocal about being against remixes of their track. However, she revealed that she immediately fell in love with Grande's version once she heard it. Grande worked with the duo on the song in FaceTime sessions which ended up including both of their families and helped her feel Grande's authentic desire to pay homage to their version. Monica also expressed that working on the remix helped to build a bridge between her and Brandy and resolve long-standing miscommunications between the two. Grande first teased the remix when she interpolated the hook of Brandy and Monica's original duet at the end of her performance of her song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on June 6.

In the remix, the trio sing the pre-chorus and chorus of Grande's song together. The remix features a new bridge and a longer outro. For the bridge, Brandy and Monica sing lyrics alluding to their version of "The Boy is Mine," saying, "How could you still be so disillusioned after all of this time? / I told you once before, I'll tell you once more, the boy is still mine."

Credits

 * Ariana Grande – vocals, lyrics, composition, production
 * Brandy Norwood – vocals, lyrics, composition
 * Monica Arnold – vocals, lyrics, composition
 * Max Martin – lyrics, production, composition, drums, keyboards, bass, programming, background vocals
 * Ilya Salmanzadeh – production, composition, drums, keyboards, bass, programming, background vocals
 * Shintaro Yasuda – production, composition, keyboards, drums, programming
 * Davidior – production, composition, drums, programming
 * Sam Holland – engineering
 * Lou Carrao – engineering
 * Eric Eylands – engineering assistance
 * Rob Sellens – engineering assistance
 * Randy Merrill – mastering
 * Serban Ghenea – mixing
 * Bryce Bordone – mixing assistance