Ariana Grande released her epic breakup song (and teen-comedy-homage music video) “Thank U, Next” in the immediate aftermath of her split with SNL’s Pete Davidson. But it turns out the hockey fan had actually recorded an alternate version of the song before it came out — just in case she ended up marrying Davidson after all.
During a recent interview on the “Zach Sang Show,” Grande chatted about how nerve-racking it was to name-drop her exes (including Davidson, the late Mac Miller, Big Sean, and Ricky Alvarez) in the song. According to Rolling Stone, Grande said in the interview that she had “like three different versions of the song,” because she is “super shy when it comes to pitching wild things, so I was like, ‘Is it insane if I name people and thank them directly in the song?’”
Grande apparently did not mention Davidson directly in the interview, but she went on to say that one version of the song was recorded with lyrics in case she ended up making it down the altar with one of the men (and we all know she was engaged to Davidson beforehand). Per Rolling Stone:
“In my relationship at the time, things were like up and down and on and off, and so I didn’t know what was going to happen and then we got back together. So I had to make a different version of it, and then we broke up again, so we ended up going with that verse. There’s a version where I was getting married, there’s a version where I’m not getting married, there’s a version with nothing. We’re not talking about anything, but we all knew that the first version was gonna be the version we ultimately went with.”
Well, the version of “Thank U, Next” that was released was a pretty perfect breakup anthem, but we’d also love to hear the Sliding Doors–sounding version if Grande wants to release it …