Ariana Grande’s “God is a Woman,” Explained
Ariana Grande has been in the news a lot as of late. From her quick engagement to actor Pete Davidson to the release of her new album, Grande hasn’t been this relevant since her role as Kat in Nickelodeon’s Victorious. Among the chatter surrounding Grande is the release of her new song and music video, “God is a Woman.”
As a feminist, I was excited for the prospect of female empowerment coming to the forefront of mainstream pop culture, especially among Grande’s younger audiences. A lot of the conversation surrounding the music video labels it as “weird” or “out-there,” so here is a play-by-play analysis:
0:02: How is her silhouette so perfect.
0:08: Grande dancing with a galaxy swirling around her is reminiscent of someone hula-hooping at a music festival…except this time the hula-hoop is a galaxy and the hula-hooper is “the center of the universe” a.k.a. God. I’m here for it.
0:14: Why is she in a pool of paint? Oh wait, that’s a vulva. Ariana Grande, naked, laying in a giant, beautiful vulva. Not much open for interpretation here. Serving Judy-Chicago-Dinner-Party vibes.
0:30: Grande rejects male-pleasure-centered sex by placing herself in the center of a bed, surrounded by naked, writhing men—a jab at sex norms.
0:44: This may be my favorite part of the music video. Ariana Grande sits, poised on a marble stool, looking larger-than-life, ethereal and unfazed as a group of tiny, angry men throw words at her like “bitch,” “hoe,” “annoying,” and “fake.” These gendered words bounce off of Grande—she has become so accustomed to this kind of sexism that it no longer affects her.
1:01: Had to do a quick Google search on this one. Grande personifies Cerberus, a three-headed dog in Greek mythology that guards the gates of the Underworld in order to prevent the dead from leaving. By taking the form of a traditionally masculine mythological character, Grande works toward redefining gender stereotypes and the male-driven narratives that dominate Western culture.
1:08: Grande stands, facing forward wearing another ethereal gown, among a crowd of women with long, straight hair who are all wearing white. This stark contrast serves as a criticism of the constructed definitions of femininity: to have long, straight hair; to blend in, not stand out; to be pure, timid, and “virginal”—to wear the color white. Instead, Grande faces the camera, makes eye contact with the viewer, and wears a jewel-toned, revealing, bad-ass dress.
1:10: Ariana Grande stands in a giant, vulva-shaped flame of a candle with clouds and an ethereal sky in the background. God. Is. A. Woman.
1:17: Grande sits on top of the Earth, straddling it. She dips her finger on Earth’s surface and creates a hurricane in a motion alluding to self-pleasure. She’s literally on top of the world, and controls even natural phenomena. She birthed the earth and it is now part of her. Grande creates this image to convey the very clear message: the world depends on female sexuality, so we mustn’t stifle it.
1:44: Screaming groundhogs coming out of a desert ground…sorry but I got nothin’.
2:04: Foliage surrounds Ariana as she cradles a rapidly-growing baby bump. Grande celebrates women’s fertility and ability to bear children, again highlighting the beauty and power of female sexuality.
2:08: Grande is pictured on all fours, wearing heels and a nude bodysuit, while men drink from her “udders.” This is an homage to the Greek myth of Romulus and Remus, brothers raised by a she-wolf and who drank from her udders.
2:14: Grande sitting cross-legged, floating, with triangles everywhere. Illuminati.
2:22: This is probably the most imagery-packed scene of the music video. Grande holds a judge’s gavel as a sledgehammer as she mouths a line from Pulp Fiction, voiced over by Madonna—it is a pronoun-switched version of Ezekiel 25:17:
“And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my sisters. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.”
When she’s mouthing this, Grande is surrounded by two giant legs, wearing heels, straddling the room, with light shining down between them. After the scripture, she throws the gavel into the air, shattering the glass ceiling, a metaphor for the “glass ceiling” that so many women have tried to shatter. The same one that Hilary Clinton so eloquently described in her concession speech as the “highest, hardest glass ceiling.” The gavel, a symbol for justice, shattering the glass ceiling powerfully decrees that gender equality and the empowerment of women are what is just and fair.
3:40: Grande and an entourage of ethnically diverse women replace the white men in Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam. Again, she criticizes the dominance of white men in cultural narratives by replacing them with those who have been historically underrepresented, written and painted over.
The imagery and symbolism in Ariana Grande’s “God is a Woman” is hard to digest all at once, but it is no doubt worth the effort. Grande portrays femininity in all of its complexity: female sexuality, female empowerment, the female form—each essential to gaining a robust understanding of cultural narratives and histories. Critiquing male-dominated societies and worldviews by personally portraying culturally-potent roles, Grande and women in general artistically assume the identity of God, a figure often personified as male in most Western cultures. She goes on to also flip the gendered script on traditionally male-centered Greek mythology, classical art, and sex norms.
“God is a Woman” illustrates female sexuality and femininity as the life-force of the world – a theme that should and is starting to definitively dominate pop culture and collective consciousness.
By Victoria Wang
Duke Student, resident globe-trotter and founder of getting foreign food posts trending