Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine tour saw the singer bringing back old favourites with a ‘messy’ twist in a not-so-subtle nod to her ex-husband.
The setlist for her opening night in Oakland included shady smash hit Thank U Next, which she hadn’t sung live for seven years.
On the popular track, which boasts over 2.2million streams on Spotify alone, Ariana sings about her failed romances from Pete Davidson to the late Mac Miller.
While on stage, Ariana, 32, decided to skip one particular lyric about marriage, poking fun at her divorce from Dalton Gomez.
‘One day I’ll walk down the aisle / Holding hands with my mama/ Only wanna do it once, real bad / Gon’ make that last,’ she sang originally.
At her opening night, she instead trailed off after ‘only wanna do it’ and laughed as she held two fingers up, joking that it would now be ‘twice’.
Fans immediately picked up on the nod to Dalton, who she officially split with in 2023 after two years of marriage.
Details of the divorce, from the prenup demands to a jaw-dropping $1 million payout to Dalton, were leaked, with reports that neither party is allowed to write a memoir about their relationship.
‘The amount of times I’ve wondered how Ariana feels about *that* line in thank you next now, and she went and did the funniest thing ever. I love her so much,’ wrote thetruthisfancy on X.
Wy4vk2 mirrored this sentiment saying, ‘please not her singing the line and holding up two fingers, she’s so funny, I love her, I’m crying.’
Another fan, yougethiiigh, said it made them ‘cackle so much’ as other fans posted crying emojis, and natty_wheyfuuu called the move ‘messy’.
‘Lmaooo it’s okay baby. Twice not bad 🤭,’ commented thetirekinge as Ky.sivard added: ‘OH SO SHE’S DOWN TO GET MARRIED AGAIN!? nice.’
Others suggested this was a hint that she and boyfriend Ethan Slater, who she began dating after meeting on the set of Wicked, could be engaged.
‘I think this is her telling us she’s expecting an engagement soon 😮,’ said princessnodiana on Instagram.
Ariana and Ethan have not given many public updates on their relationship, keeping things largely out of the spotlight after their explosive start, plagued by cheating rumours.
They’re keeping so secretive that they were rarely seen together during the Wicked For Good press tour, as he attended only a handful of premieres and cast Q&As.
This was likely due to the fact Boq, the munchkin played by Ethan, was skipping down the yellow brick road rather than on-screen for much of the second film.
‘Ariana put Ethan on the back burner while she was promoting the movie,’ one insider told the Daily Mail at the time.
‘But they’re in a solid place now. They’re like an old married couple at home. They’d rather hang out together and do simple things like play board games or binge-watch shows rather than go out to fancy places.’
Split rumours continued to swirl, but the pair confirmed they were still together in March when the Twilight Zone singer supported him at his play’s closing night.
‘Congratulations on a beautiful run of this very beautiful show,’ she wrote on Instagram stories, adding: ‘So very proud.’
Ariana previously praised her boyfriend, saying ‘No one on this earth tries harder or spreads themselves thinner to be there for the people that he loves and cares about. There is no one on this earth with a better heart.’
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