There are going to be plenty of people who don't understand Ariana Grande's just-dropped "God Is a Woman" video—and not because they don't know what to make of those screaming animatronic marmots that pop up halfway through.
They won't understand it because they don't understand Ariana Grande, or anyone else who doesn't fit neatly into their antiquated mold of what a woman should be. They give us two options—virgin or whore—and that dichotomy can be an especially difficult one to defy when you laid the groundwork for your career at a super-young age. But Grande, who has always been an outspoken feminist and refused to be defined by her sexuality, rejects the notion that women can be only one thing, that feminine sensuality and divinity can't go hand-in-hand.
When she posted a lengthy statement rejecting double standards and gender discrimination in 2015, she closed it with a Gloria Steinem quote that feels particularly relevant to "God Is a Woman": "Any woman who chooses to behave like a full human being should be warned that the armies of the status quo will treat her as something of a dirty joke... She will need her sisterhood."
On its own, "God Is a Woman" is ultimately a song about sex. Its central concept is a straightforward and empowering one: "You love it how I move you / You love it how I touch you / My one, when all is said and done / You'll believe God is a woman." Grande also advocates for equality in the bedroom—something that shouldn't feel radical in the year 2018, but still is in a culture that continues to shame women for enjoying sex and discourages them from speaking about their desires. Case in point: the Sweetener track, with lines like, "And I can tell that you know I know how I want it / Ain't nobody else can relate / Boy, I like that you ain't afraid / Baby, lay me down and let's pray / I'm tellin' you the way I like it, how I want it."
The video takes these themes and adds some religious iconography to drive home the point that there is power in female sexuality. It opens with Grande at the center of the universe—literally and figuratively—as some sort of enormous godlike figure, hula-hooping the galaxy that surrounds her. Later she's naked and partially submerged in a pool of pink and purple paint that looks suspiciously like a giant vulva. She dances inside the flame of a candle and is worshipped by a choir dressed in all-white robes. At one point she sits on top of the world, fingering the eye of a hurricane.
Some of it is not at all subtle, like the all-female recreation of Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam that closes the video and replaces Adam with Eve and God with Grande, or the Mother Earth imagery when Grande descends a mountain and strokes her growing, animated belly like some sort of fertility goddess (which has, of course, led to feverish speculation online that she's pregnant—sigh). Some of it is more open to interpretation: Is the three-headed dog behind her supposed to be Cerberus, the ravenous creature who guards the underworld in Greek mythology? Or is it Fluffy, the character who guards the Sorcerer's Stone in Harry Potter (of which Grande is a noted superfan)?
At first glance it may seem like the tiny men below her in one shot are propping her up—blasphemy!—but look closer, and it's apparent that she's nursing them, a nod to Romulus and Remus of Roman mythology, often depicted as suckling at the teat of the she-wolf that raised them. When she walks a tightrope against an all-pink backdrop, it's easy to assume she's carrying balloons as she toes whatever fine lines society has laid out for her, but watch carefully and you'll see she's actually holding a cluster of planets. Our girl's got the universe in her hands.
The video's most striking image, however, features a spoken-word assist from none other than Madonna (who better to help dismantle the madonna-whore complex than the woman behind "Like a Prayer"?). It comes as Grande, dressed for battle in gloves that read "POWER" and a helmet with her trademark ears, mouths the pop icon's reading of Ezekiel 25:17, the verse made famous by Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, replacing "brothers" with "sisters": "And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my sisters. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."
She then flings an oversize gavel (justice!) and shatters a literal glass ceiling, revealing an enormous pair of outstretched female legs. She poses in front of the heavenly rays beaming from the giant, shimmering crotch. Grande tweeted a clip of the scene yesterday, writing, "To my fellow goddesses who work their asses off every day to 'break the glass ceiling,' this is for you. I respect u and am endlessly inspired by u. pls continue to fuck it up, to be yourself unapologetically & always know how celebrated u are. hope this can be ya anthem."
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"God Is a Woman" is an anthem: for female sexuality, for knowing what you want and not being afraid to ask for it, for knowing your own worth, for recognizing that women can be powerful and spiritual and horny and whatever the hell else they want to be, all at once. Grande knows that there will be people who don't get it, and she's not particularly concerned with them. At one point in the video, she sits unbothered as small men hurl words like bitch, fake, and annoying at her. They bounce right off her, and she doesn't even look at them. And that alone is enough to make "God Is a Woman" an anthem worth worshipping.
Watch it below:
