Ariana Grande Changed A “Thank U, Next” Lyric On The Eternal Sunshine Tour

The future that Ariana Grande manifested on her 2018 hit “thank u, next” may not have worked out as planned, but now, she’s found the humor in it. On June 6, the singer kicked off her long-awaited Eternal Sunshine Tour and made some changes to her performance of “thank u, next,” nodding to her family drama and divorce from ex-husband Dalton Gomez in subtle yet hilarious ways.

After playing a jukebox montage of some of throwback hits, including “The Way” and “God is a woman,” Grande surprised fans by bringing back “thank u, next,” her first older song in the setlist. For the most part, it was business as usual, but when she got to the bridge, she switched up some of the lyrics to reflect her current life and prove how far she’s come.

Envisioning her future, she usually sings, “One day I’ll walk down the aisle holding hands with my mama / I’ll be thanking my dad, ‘cause she grew from the drama.” But now, Grande sings “We all grew from the drama,” nodding to her family’s reconciliation.

She then skirted the next line, “Only wanna do it once real bad, gonna make that sh*t last.” Instead, she gave a knowing look to the crowd and flashed the number two before bursting into laughter with the rest of the audience. Like Cher once sang, she believes in life after love.

Grande tied the knot to Gomez, a luxury real estate agent, in May 2021, after over a year of dating and a six-month engagement. However, the pair separated nearly two years later. The relationship seemed to inspire Grande’s acclaimed 2024 album, Eternal Sunshine, particularly the emotional title track, in which she erases memories of strife and infidelity à la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

When it comes to her parents, Grande revealed in a February episode of WTF with Marc Maron that she got her mother, Joan, and father, Ed Butera, to make up after nearly two decades of hostility following their divorce. Now, their daughter says she “can’t separate them.”

“They’re not together, but they’re best friends,” she said. “It took 18 years, and it took me forcing it. I forced them to communicate again... I guess they just had some sort of beautiful conversation, or realized that how much they love me is so much louder than whatever nonsense happened way back when. It really is beautiful. It did something to my brain, too.”