Songfacts®:

• "Boyfriend" is a collaboration between Ariana Grande and Social House, a pop duo comprising Pittsburgh natives Michael "Mikey" Foster and Charles "Scootie" Anderson. The pair have production credits on several of Grande's other hits, including "Thank U, Next" and "7 Rings." They were also an opening act, alongside Normani, on her Sweetener Tour.
• Lyrically, the song is about those vulnerable feelings when you're unsure how much to commit to the relationship.
  
  I ain't your girlfriend
  But you don't want me to touch nobody else
  Baby, we ain't gotta tell nobody
  
  Grande, Mikey and Scootie are unwilling to define the budding romance as a relationship.
• Replying to a fan who asked about the track's inspiration on Twitter, Grande said: "I feel like this song captures a common theme in the lives of so many people I know. People want to feel love but don't want to define their relationship and have trouble fully committing or trusting or allowing themselves to fully love someone. Even though they want to."
  
  Grande went on to explain that she and Social House wanted to create something with a message: "We wanted to make something uplifting that captures that feeling of being afraid to take the leap and trust, being afraid of being hurt or feeling like you won't be enough for that person… but also how it feels to have crippling crush on someone."
• The video centers around Grande's imaginable revenge after she sees her boyfriend flirting with strangers at a party. The clip was directed by the singer's frequent collaborator Hannah Lux Davis.
  
  Davis told MTV News the clip's concept was one that people can relate to worldwide. "The guy you're flirting with every other night is talking to some other girl at a party and you just want to strangle her or knock her out," she said. "That's kind of where it came from: how funny that would be to see those fantasies play out."
• Ariana Grande performed the song live for the first time halfway through her headlining show at Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 4, 2019. The Social House duo appeared on stage alongside the pop star for the performance and was introduced as Grande's "two favorite people in the world."
• The song was included on Social House's debut EP Everything Changed.
• The song originated with a recording session between Ariana Grande and the producer Tommy Brown. She came up with hook and a verse then contacted Social House and invited them to jump on her demo. Mikey Foster worked on his verse for the rest of the night; Scootie Anderson then recorded his the following night in the green room straight after they'd played a show at The Forum.
• The message of "Boyfriend" is that sometimes people aren't ready for a relationship, but at the same time they don't want to see their love interest with someone else. Scottie explained to Genius: "It's like that last slice of pizza in the box, and you're like, "I already ate all these other pieces and I don't want you right now, but I don't want Mikey to come in here and eat you because I might want you later."
• This won Song of the Summer at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards.