Fresh off of the release of eternal sunshine, Ariana Grande hit the Saturday Night Live stage to perform two songs from the album, “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)†and “imperfect for you†— the latter of which was introduced by another legend, her mother Joan Grande. After all, the album is somewhat of a family affair, with Grande’s grandmother delivering a spoken interlude on “ordinary things†(credited as Nonna), and her brother Frankie having listened to it.
After blowing a kiss to her mom from the stage, Grande performed the track surrounded by her band, in a set made to look like a meadow at sunset. As she sang, storm clouds rolled in over the sunshine and eventually night fell and fireflies filled the sky — not so eternal after all.
As for Grande’s first performance of the night, introduced by host Josh Brolin who is not related to Grande, she began singing it kneeling in front of a television, with the set dressed to look like a regular living room. But this wasn’t just any television set, it was big boxy one from the aughts, and it was playing the music video for the song she was singing — starring Evan Peters, which she promptly turned off before heading to the mic stand.
Then, just as the beat dropped, water crashed through the living room’s entry way like a tsunami. Now, if you didn’t immediately realize that the set was actually just LED screens, this might have been alarming — much like the flash flood attraction on a Universal Studios tour. But fear not, because soon enough the screens took us back to the living room, now covered in overgrown flowers. As the walls around her changed like a desktop screensaver, Grande sported a big brown coat and white floral eye shadow design, all while singing with crystal clear diction. Thank you Wicked!