Ghostin

Album: Thank U, Next (2019)
Charted: 25
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Ariana Grande's two-year relationship with Mac Miller ended in May 2018. The singer started dating Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson the same month, but then had to endure the tragedy of Miller dying from a drug overdose in September 2018. This haunting ballad (no pun intended) finds her grieving for the late rapper while still in a relationship with Davidson.
  • I know that it breaks your heart when I cry again
    Over him
    I know that it breaks your heart when I cry again,
    'Stead of ghostin' him


    The track is a ghostly take on a love triangle. Grande is mourning Mac Miller and apologizing to her current lover for the rapper's spectral presence hanging over her. Though she seems hopeful that they'll get through her trauma, Grande also sings about wishing "he were here instead."
  • "Ghostin" means cutting off communication to avoid a person and the confrontation that would inevitably arise. Grande said the song is about "feeling badly for the person you're with because you love somebody else. Feeling badly because he can tell he can't compare... and how I should be ghosting him."

    Grande's relationship with Davidson didn't survive. They broke up a month after the passing of Mac Miller.
  • It's been pointed out on social media that the song's background moans sound very much like a slowed down version of the strings on Mac Miller's 2018 contemplative Swimming track, "2009."
  • The song features backing vocals from two of its co-writers, Victoria Monét and Tayla Parx. Monet and Parx also co-penned Thank U Next's title track and "7 Rings."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Mike Campbell

Mike CampbellSongwriter Interviews

Mike is lead guitarist with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and co-writer of classic songs like "Boys Of Summer," "Refugee" and "The Heart Of The Matter."

Lori McKenna

Lori McKennaSongwriter Interviews

Lori's songs have been recorded by Faith Hill and Sara Evans. She's performed on the CMAs and on Oprah. She also has five kids.

Rock Revenge Songs

Rock Revenge SongsMusic Quiz

John Lennon, Paul Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd are some of the artists who have written revenge songs. Do you know who they wrote them about?

Band Names

Band NamesFact or Fiction

Was "Pearl" Eddie Vedder's grandmother, and did she really make a hallucinogenic jam? Did Journey have a contest to name the group? And what does KISS stand for anyway?

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater RevivalFact or Fiction

Is "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" about Vietnam? Was John Fogerty really born on a Bayou? It's the CCR edition of Fact or Fiction.

Thomas Dolby

Thomas DolbySongwriter Interviews

He wrote "She Blinded Me With Science" so he could direct a video about a home for deranged scientists.