Um, What Does Mrs. Ariana Grande Take to Practise With the Weeknd's 'I Heard You're Married'?

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

As the Weeknd's new album, Dawn FM … dawns, so accept the fan theories. Abel Tesfaye has never shied from drawing on his personal life in his music — remember My Dear Melancholy and all its Selena Gomez references? Still, one particular vocal on Dawn FM surprised fans with its lyrics: "I Heard You're Married." Sound like a shot at the Weeknd's "Save Your Tears" and "off the table" collaborator Ariana Grande? The same Ariana Grande whom fans oftentimes conjecture dated the Weeknd and who indeed got married last year every bit the Weeknd prepped the follow-upwardly to his 2020 smash, After Hours. And then did the Weeknd and Ari hook upwardly — and did he save his tears about the split for his new anthology? And on top of it all, how does Angelina Jolie fit into this mess?! Let's break it down.

Naught practiced, that's for certain! The Weeknd saves some of his biggest punches for one of the concluding songs on Dawn FM, on which he sings most being in "a fling" with a woman who's already taken. "It hurts to think I'm sharin' yous," he sings in the first verse. After, he goes on to country things more apparently: "Why you lot fifty-fifty with him if you're cheatin'?" he asks his partner. Every bit the song goes on, he has decided to leave the thing, telling the girl in question, "I can't be with you / You lot're likewise deceiving, girl." Sorry to this woman!

The Weeknd doesn't brand the subject of "I Heard You're Married" too explicit, but it'southward definitely possible to read between the lines. Start, we know the Weeknd'southward two highest-profile exes (not to mention some of his favorite lyrical topics), Bella Hadid and Selena Gomez, are not married. That opens the door to some speculation as to other women the Weeknd could have been involved with … including Grande. Later on collaborating on the sensual 2014 duet "Dearest Me Harder," the two reconnected in 2020 for "off the table," another duet for Grande'due south album positions, widely seen as a proclamation of love to her then-new boo, Dalton Gomez. About one-half a twelvemonth afterward, in Apr 2021, Grande hopped onto a remix of the Weeknd's After Hours single "Salvage Your Tears." By that point, she was engaged to Gomez, merely weeks away from her eventual intimate wedding and, theoretically, could accept been intimate with the Weeknd, too. (And how'd he hear she was married? Well, he liked the Insta post, for starts.) The two went on to perform "Save Your Tears" at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in late May and released a Vevo live functioning of "off the table" in July, both reportedly afterwards Grande's wedding.

Not buying it? Let'southward look at the text. The sleuths at Genius say the early line "You lot manifested this, but daughter, I blame myself" could exist a reference to Grande's positions song "just similar magic," which also touches on manifesting (in her case, "proficient karma"). Some stans also say that "besides skillful to be true" line in the chorus could be pulling from a favorite saying of Ari's, which appears on songs like "positions" ("You're simply too good to be truthful") and "someone like u" ("Baby this time, please don't exist likewise good to be true"), both likewise off positions. Perhaps the most disarming piece of evidence, though, or at to the lowest degree the most head-turning coincidence: The Weeknd's vocal features Lil Wayne, who previously worked with Grande on "Let Me Love You," an ode to unmarried loving off her 2016 album, Dangerous Adult female. Could that vocal have been nigh the Weeknd? The jury remains out.

Here'south where things get fuzzier. Some fans accept latched on to other Dawn FM lyrics as references to Grande, but not all of those check out. On the album's beginning proper vocal, "Gasoline," for example, the Weeknd sings, "I'g dozing off to R.E.M. / I'thou trying not to lose my faith." And certain, Grande has a song and a dazzler line called "r.e.m." Only the next line is the important part — that'southward a reference to "Losing My Religion," by the widely influential rock band R.E.M., which shares the darker sonic palette the Weeknd uses on Dawn FM. Sometimes it's merely not that deep.

Elsewhere, on the vocal "Here We Go … Again," the Weeknd addresses an ex who's with a new, less famous homo. "Your girlfriend'south tryna pair you with somebody more famous / But instead you lot concluded up with someone so bones, faceless," he sings. Now, this could also be the Weeknd'south confirmed ex Bella Hadid, who's currently dating a dude not many people know by face or name, fine art director Marc Kalman. But permit's go dorsum a few lines before, where the Weeknd is singing well-nigh living large afterward his Super Bowl performance. "Said you wanted your young man jealous with a couple pics," he seriously sings. "And you didn't expect to fall for me in one case you got this dick." At the time, Grande would have been engaged to Gomez — a noncelebrity real-manor agent — and working on the "Relieve Your Tears" remix with the Weeknd. Could that accept been role of a stunt Grande pulled on Gomez that escalated? If and then, the Weeknd goes on to sing on "Here Nosotros Go … Over again" that he doesn't care. "My new girl, she a motion-picture show star," he sings in the same verse, throwing in a seeming confirmation of his rumored relationship with Angelina Jolie. The real buried lede hither!

Oh, and one more than note on pic stars: The Weeknd's album, formatted as a radio broadcast, is narrated by none other than Jim Carrey equally a DJ. If the Weeknd is singing nearly a carve up from Grande, that particular could be salt in the wound because her own well-documented friendship with the comedian.

Nothing nonetheless. The pop star didn't congratulate her (sometime?) friend on the release of his new album on Instagram. But contrary to some reports, she also didn't unfollow him on Instagram. Retrieve, she's no longer gracing us with her Twitter presence. Mrs. Grande seems to be content living her quiet, married life at the moment.

Is the Weeknd's New Album Nearly Mrs. Ariana Grande?