--- title: Ariana Grande's New Exes Song 'Thank U Next' Inspires Meme description: Ariana Grande's new song about her exes, "thank u, next," is the inspiration for the Internet's latest viral meme. canonical: https://time.com/5446081/ariana-grande-new-song-thank-u-next-inspires-meme/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-06T16:47:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:50.913Z og:title: Ariana Grande's New Song About Her Exes Inspires Latest Meme og:description: No chill og:url: https://time.com/5446081/ariana-grande-new-song-thank-u-next-inspires-meme/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb29f4871e25546c/69893e5dab6d77d9a66b41b0/ariana-grande-thank-u-next-meme.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: 2018 iHeartRadio Wango Tango By AT&T - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ariana Grande's New Song About Her Exes Inspires Latest Meme twitter:description: No chill twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb29f4871e25546c/69893e5dab6d77d9a66b41b0/ariana-grande-thank-u-next-meme.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ariana Grande's Self-Love Anthem, 'Thank U, Next,' Inspires Internet's Latest Meme > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=63d8be02-bb3d-411c-a432-db9198332ea3&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Nov 6, 2018 4:47 PM UTC  LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 02: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO COMMERCIAL USE) Ariana Grande performs onstage during the 2018 iHeartRadio Wango Tango by AT LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 02: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO COMMERCIAL USE) Ariana Grande performs onstage during the 2018 iHeartRadio Wango Tango by AT Rich Polk—Getty Images for iHeartMedia  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Nov 6, 2018 4:47 PM UTC [Ariana Grande](http://time.com/collection-post/5277962/ariana-grande-next-generation-leaders/)‘s exes have been a topic of public discussion of late, which is something she addressed through music when dropped her new song on Saturday night, a self-love anthem titled, “thank u, next.” In the catchy tune, she name-checks four of her ex-boyfriends, including the [late rapper Mac Miller](http://time.com/5445098/rapper-mac-miller-died-from-accidental-overdose-autopsy-report-finds/) and her recent ex-fiancé, [_Saturday Night Live_ comedian Pete Davidson](http://time.com/5445003/kenan-thompson-pete-davidson-dan-crenshaw-joke/), all while thanking them for what they brought to her life and taught her. The song, which ultimately celebrates Grande’s relationship with herself, also had three lines that one could safely interpret was about her exes: “one taught me love/one taught me patience/and one taught me pain,” which piqued the interest of the Internet. Twitter soon discovered that these three lines could apply to pretty much any fandom, ranging from _Sex and the City_ to the NBA, and as a result, wasted no time in making Ari’s song into a meme for the ages. See the best meme interpretations of “thank u, next,” below. _RuPaul’s Drag Race_ got the “thank u, next” treatment. > [](https://twitter.com/benarmishaw/status/1059500315211370496) While shows like _The Office_ and _Parks and Recreation_ used the meme to rank their own romantic dalliances. > [](https://twitter.com/theofficenbc/status/1059537111861354496) > [](https://twitter.com/parksandrecnbc/status/1059554730559655936) The NBA wasn’t about to be left out of the fun. > [](https://twitter.com/quixem/status/1059552339080765441) And as always, a Nic Cage meme is perfect for any occasion. > [](https://twitter.com/normwilner/status/1059550693806219264) _Sex and the City_ fans got a kick out of this meme. > [](https://twitter.com/nicolewboyce/status/1059506208904826882) While these meme had Twitter users singing, “here we go again!” > [](https://twitter.com/ryanbloomquist/status/1059122494932697089) This meme may have accurately summed up all the feelings that everyone had during _A Star is Born_. > [](https://twitter.com/ortile/status/1059543125822181377) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5446081/ariana-grande-new-song-thank-u-next-inspires-meme/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5446081/ariana-grande-new-song-thank-u-next-inspires-meme/"},"headline":"Ariana Grande's Self-Love Anthem, 'Thank U, Next,' Inspires Internet's Latest Meme","datePublished":"2018-11-06T16:47:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:55:50.913Z","description":"No chill","url":"https://time.com/5446081/ariana-grande-new-song-thank-u-next-inspires-meme/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb29f4871e25546c/69893e5dab6d77d9a66b41b0/ariana-grande-thank-u-next-meme.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb29f4871e25546c/69893e5dab6d77d9a66b41b0/ariana-grande-thank-u-next-meme.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2018 iHeartRadio Wango Tango By AT&T - Show","caption":"2018 iHeartRadio Wango Tango By AT&T - Show","creditText":"Rich Polk—Getty Images for iHeartMedia","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5446081/ariana-grande-new-song-thank-u-next-inspires-meme/","name":"Ariana Grande's Self-Love Anthem, 'Thank U, Next,' Inspires Internet's Latest Meme"}}]}] ```