“Motive” by Ariana Grande & Doja Cat

On “Motive”, Ariana Grande and Doja Cat appear to be addressing interests at respective stages of their prospective romantic relationships. For Ariana it sounds like this dude is someone she is in fact interested in, but he is afraid to make a definitive move.  Meanwhile for Doja Cat, it seems as if she is rapping to someone she is already involved with, albeit on a superficial level. And what they are both expressing to the addressees is a desire to ascertain their true ‘motives’. Or stated succinctly, they want to know if these guys are truly interested and vested in propagating a genuine romance.

This is Ariana and Doja Cat’s first collaboration, which the former initially teased during May of 2020. The track was officially released as part of Grande’s album Positions in October 2020. And the two vocalists are also the song’s co-writers, as are London on da Track and Murda Beatz. The latter two artists also served as producers of “Motive”.

And the other two producers of this song are Mr. Franks and Joseph L’Étranger.

The label behind the release of “Motive” and the entire project is Republic Records.