Meaning of “Imagine” by Ariana Grande

“Imagine” is a romantic ballad written and performed by American singer Ariana Grande. The words of “Imagine” see Grande do nothing but dream of a nice romantic affair with a wonderful person. Throughout the song, Grande longingly sings about a beautiful romantic relationship that is lowkey and filled to the brim with everything beautiful.

Ariana Grande explains the meaning of “Imagine”

A couple of days before the official release of the song, Grande made a comment about the song on Twitter. She said “Imagine” is a song that she hopes can balance the confident energy that accompanied “thank u, next” with a more vulnerable/unsure energy that accompanies “Imagine”.

She later threw light on the album (thank u, next) on which the song appears. According to her, most of the songs on that album center on the sadness brought on by a number of failed relationships in her life while celebrating her growth as a person.

Having stated that, she said if her earlier single “thank u, next” was equal to “acceptance”, “imagine” was equal to “denial”. She went on to expand this statement when a fan pushed her for more information. The fan asked whether the song was a “darker version of “thank u, next” and whether it explained the aftermath of a breakup and how to cope with it. Grande replied by saying it was about someone whose relationship had come to an end. However, despite this, the person keeps pretending the relationship is still alive. Basically, the person is living in denial.

Grande ended by telling the fan that despite what she has just said about the song, it could have a variety of meanings for listener to listener.

Facts about “Imagine”

• “Imagine” was officially released on 14 December 2018.
• The track was released alongside an “official lyric video”, which displays the words to the song, with no conventional music video forthcoming.
• The graphics for the lyric video, which features a glacier, was done by artist Thomas Collet.
• The song was written by Ariana Grande, Priscilla Renea, JProof, Andrew Wansel and a couple of others.
• Andrew Wansel also produced the track, alongside Happy Perez.
• This was released as the first promotional single off of Ariana’s fifth studio album “Thank U, Next”.
• Grande teased the release of this song via her Instagram account on 11 December 2018.
• The song was released by Republic Records and Universal Music Group.
• Ariana used the occasion of the release of “Imagine” to call for peace between Kanye West and Drake. Prior to the song’s release, the pair had been feuding on Twitter. Kanye later criticized Grande for using his predicament to promote her single.
• It is theorized that this song is actually about Grande’s ex-boyfriend, the late rapper Mac Miller. FYI: Miller actually had a tattoo of the word “imagine” imprinted on his body.
• In Ariana’s own words, “Imagine” is about “a simple, beautiful love that is now (and forever) unattainable.”
• The first teaser for this track came via the music video for Ariana’s song “Breathin”, which was released on 10 October 2018.
• Ariana performed this song live for the first time on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on 18 December 2018.
• Few days after its release, “Imagine” reached number 8 on the UK singles chart. This feat gave Ariana her 10th top 10 single in the United Kingdom.