Ariana Drops 7 Rings to Controversy

Ariana Grande has dropped “7 Rings,” the second official single off her fifth album, thank u, next.

In the song, Grande raps about having an absurd amount of money and buying Tiffany rings for her BFFs on a whim. The video shows Ariana and dozens of her closest female friends partying in high style in a luxury mansion, draped in jewels and drinking champagne.

Now a trio of artists have independently accused Grande of plagiarizing their work.

Co-produced by Grande with her long time collaborator, Tommy Brown, alongside Charles Anderson and Michael Foste, “7 Rings” begins with a riff on The Sound Of Music’s “My Favorite Things,” and features a sample of Notorious B.I.G.’s “Gimme The Loot.”

According to Princess Nokia, the song also “riffs” off “Mine,” her track from 2017 mixtape 1992 Deluxe about reclaiming black women’s hair styles as their own.

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Across her social media, Nokia uploaded a now-deleted video of her listening to Grande’s track with bemusement before playing “Mine,” tagging Grande’s handle in the post. “Does that sound familiar to you? ‘Cause that sound really familiar to me,” she said. “Ain’t that the lil song I made about brown women and their hair? Hmmm… sounds about white.” Nokia also re-tweeted a fan who said Grande “literally steals flows, words, bars from Nokia.” Once Nokia’s posts were written about online and circulated, they were deleted.

Both songs discuss women’s relationship with their hair. In “7 Rings,” Grande sings, “You like my hair? Gee, thanks, just bought it/I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it.” And in Princess Nokia’s song she says, “Flip the weave, I am a stunner/ It’s mine, I bought it/It’s mine, I bought it.”

Grande later wrote on her Instagram Story: “‘You like my hair? Gee, thanks, just bought it’… White women talking about their weaves is how we’re gonna solve racism.” Grande has since deleted the post.

When The Shade Room posted the comment on Instagram, they commented that, “#ArianaGrande has fans upset because they feel she’s missing the point of the backlash,” the songstress hopped into the comments to clarify her statement and offer an apology.

“Hi hi… I think her intention was to be like… yay a white person disassociating the negative [stereotype] that is paired with the word ‘weave’… however I’m so sorry if my response was out of pocket or if it came across the wrong way. Thanks for opening the conversation and like… to everyone for talking to me about it. It’s never my intention to offend anybody.”

Soulja Boy also noticed some similarities to his 2010 single “Pretty Boy Swag.” He tweeted Grande asked her to “stop stealing my swag” and reposted a fan-made video comparing the two tracks. He also flat out called her a “thief.”

In addition, 2 Chainz slyly called out Grande, suggesting on Instagram that “7 Rings’” neon-lit video, set in a sorority house, bears a few similarities to his Pink Trap House in Atlanta.