7 Rings climbs to the top

%28photo+courtesy+of+Youtube.com%29

(photo courtesy of Youtube.com)

Ekene Osuchukwu

By Ekene Osuchukwu

After her chart-topping single “thank u, next,” Ariana Grande released the highly unexpected “7 Rings” that has a new sound for the singer but resembles the styles of other well-known artists.

The beginning verses of the song sample “My Favorite Things” by Julie Andrews from the famous musical The Sound of Music. Grande uses the same key melody but changes the last few notes to make it her own style. Although some view this as clever and creative, fans and critics have been saying that it makes the song less original and something that’s been done before.

The music video for “7 Rings,” which dropped the same day as the song, was pink-themed and consisted of fancy items that we as ordinary people could only dream of having. Grande wears a  jeweled headpiece; a tight, pink jumper; as well as fur coats. A lot of her fans are saying that the wardrobe and style in the music video resemble that of Nicki Minaj and Cardi B; one is known for her obsession with the color pink, while the latter is known for her tendency to flaunt her jewels. The music isn’t far from what we have seen from the two female rappers in their own videos like “Chun-Li” by Nicki Minaj and “Money” by Cardi B.

The song and video was just one gigantic flex on all of us, as she spends the entire chorus talking about how she gets what she wants when she sings, “I want it, I got it.” The chorus too has been accused of copying Princess Nokia’s song “Mine,” but this is kind of a stretch. However, big the stretch, this didn’t seem to stop Princess Nokia from posting a video dissing Grande’s song on Instagram.  Although the two songs do have similar choruses, this could have easily been a coincidence since the melody is so common and has probably been used by many other artists.

“7 Rings” resembles hip-hop more than Grande’s usual pop music, so that could be an explanation for all the recent backlash on the song and the video. However, many people, me included, love the direction her music is heading in and view this song as the mark of a new musical era for Grande.

In light of all the success of her new single, Grande decided to celebrate by tattooing “7 Rings” in Japanese on her palm. Unfortunately, it ended up reading “BBQ Grill.” The singer received a lot flack for the tattoo, so much that she ended up correcting it. However this didn’t stop the song from climbing the charts.

Ariana Grande’s song, amidst all the critics, continues to be successful as it rises to No. 1 on the U.S. Spotify and Billboard  charts and continues to gather more views on YouTube.

Grande hasn’t commented on any of the copycat rumors, but she has teased a new album titled “thank u, next” which dropped Feb. 8, and I bet it is filled with more catchy, yet controversial, songs like this one.