Capitalizing on our shared loves of dreamy pop ballads, 2000s-era female-led comedies, and being pretty much completely over Pete Davidson, Ariana Grande has just shattered YouTube’s record for most views in a single day with her new music video, “Thank U, Next”. The video—directed by Hannah Lux Davis—is a loving homage to a whole bunch of classic comedies of the 2000s era, including Legally Blonde, Mean Girls, Bring It On, and 13 Going On 30, and apparently that, combined with Grande’s self-empowering singing and lyrics, was catnip for internet audiences, who watched the video more than 50 million times in its first 24 hours on the web.
Our condolences to the previous holders of the record, Korean pop group BTS, who clearly failed to follow Ariana’s simple example of being a zeitgeist-embodying combination of sassiness, triumph over adversity, and sheer charismatic talent. Meanwhile, Grande’s video still has a long way to go if it wants to topple the record for overall views; that’s still held by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” which has been viewed nearly 6 billion times since it was put on YouTube in January 2017. But who can say what the power of a good Jennifer Coolidge cameo can do?