A new era in the life of Ariana Grande’s stellar seventh album Eternal Sunshine is here as the singer returns with a video for “The Boy Is Mine.” The track, which interpolates Brandy and Monica’s 1998 song of the same title, is undoubtedly one of the standout records from the project. The visual features Penn Badgley as Mayor Max who appears early in the video for a news conference promising to cure the city’s severe rat infestation problem. Brandy and Monica also appear in the video and news anchors. All in all, the devious video is straight out of a You scene, capturing Grande’s obsessive crush on Mayor Max and the lengths (injecting him with a love potion) she’s willing to go to make him fall in love with her. In the end, the potion is not needed as the two go on to live happy ever after in a house full of cats.
Grande spoke about Badgley’s contribution to “The Boy Is Mine” music video during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “The video stars Penn Badgley, who I’ve been a fan of my entire life,” she said. “It was so amazing to work with him. Super honored to work with him.” Fans first suspected that Badgley would appear in the video after Grande posted a TikTok of the You actor dancing to the song’s chorus.
In addition to speaking about Badgley’s role in the video, Grande also delivered a performance of “The Boy Is Mine” backed by The Roots while on a rooftop set.
You can watch the video for “The Boy Is Mine” as well as her performance of the song on The Tonight Show above.
Eternal Sunshine is out now via Republic Records. Find out more information here.
