CELEBRITIES
Grande video breaks YouTube record
Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next” video is a bona fide overnight sensation: It smashed YouTube’s all-time record for most views in the first 24 hours of release.
The video, an homage to female-driven movies from the early 2000s, dropped Friday after weeks of buildup — and set the record in just under 22 hours. As of Monday, “Thank U, Next” has racked over 90 million views.
In addition, according to YouTube, “Thank U, Next” set the record for most-viewed video that used YouTube’s Premiere scheduling feature with 829,000 viewers watching simultaneously at its peak. Grande fans sent over 516,000 chat messages during the video debut, also a record for YouTube Premieres.
The video is saturated with references to movies “Mean Girls,” “Bring It On,” “13 Going On 30” and “Legally Blonde.” It features cameos by “Mean Girls” actors Jonathan Bennett and and Stefanie Drummond — with Kris Jenner as the dancing/camcorder-brandishing mom. It also includes appearances by YouTube stars Colleen Ballinger and Gabi DeMartino, Jennifer Coolidge (“Legally Blonde”) and singer Troye Sivan.
The video for “Thank U, Next,” a bittersweet ode to old flames, includes references to Grande’s exes.
— Variety