Looks like enough of you registered to vote. Ariana Grande tweeted a hint that she’ll be releasing new music before the end of October (if, that is, October ever ends). “I can’t wait to give u my album this month,†she wrote on October 14, assuring us we’d have bops on bops to soundtrack our journey to the polls in November (or earlier! Just vote!). And how fitting that we would get an album this year from the woman who invented staying at home? Grande was active in the beginning of quarantine, dropping duets with Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga that both rocketed to the top of the charts. Her appearance in Gaga’s fantastic VMAs performance would’ve been enough to hold us over for the rest of the year, but Grande’s always been one to outdo herself. Last week, she tweeted, “Turning in these mixes and reminding u again to register to vote if u haven’t already / to vote early,†implying that she had been spending her quiet time working on new music. Grande’s new, as-yet-unspecified project follows 2019’s thank u, next, which she put out just under six months after her previous masterpiece, 2018’s Sweetener. But even with thank u, next, we got a bit of warning — this time, she’s put us all on surprise-album watch for the next two and a half weeks. Consider it our thank you for that next installment of Ariana Grande music.
Update, October 23: Grande continues to position herself for her sixth album’s release, sharing the cover art on her social media and confirming the album’s name is positions. She’s already claimed the presidency in her music video for lead single and title track “positions†— what other positions will we hear her take on next week?