We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)

On March 8, 2024, Ariana Grande dropped "We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)" as the second single from her seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshine. The track blends Europop, power pop, and synthwave over an electropop beat. Critics immediately compared the sound to Robyn's "Dancing on My Own," noting how Grande pairs emotional devastation with a dancefloor-friendly production. The lyrics operate on two levels: they address both a fractured romantic relationship and Grande's fraught dynamic with the press and public scrutiny.

The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Grande's ninth chart-topper and her seventh to debut at the summit. That same week, Eternal Sunshine also entered the Billboard 200 at number one. By May 2024, the single had reached number one on Billboard's Pop Airplay chart, making Grande the sixth act with ten or more leaders on that list. The track has accumulated over 2 billion streams on Spotify.

The official music video, directed by Christian Breslaur, is a direct homage to the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Grande plays a woman undergoing a memory-wiping procedure to forget her ex-boyfriend, portrayed by actor Evan Peters. The video recreates iconic scenes from the film and includes a birthday cake kiss scene from the 1980s classic Sixteen Candles. Released on March 8, 2024, it has garnered over 373 million views on YouTube. Grande performed the song on Saturday Night Live in March 2024, and the track was nominated for the 2024 MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year. [modifica]