Saturday Night Live: Ariana Grande performs ‘We Can’t Be Friends’
Entering tonight’s Saturday Night Live, we had expectations that were all over the place for Ariana Grande.
Did we anticipate some big performances from her? Absolutely, and it made sense given her new album Eternal Sunshine. However, at the same time this is someone with a history of performing on comedy shows including this one — we absolutely thought it was possible that we would see her appear in a sketch or two.
Before we even get to the performances, Grande did make an appearance during the people-pleaser support group, a rather silly premise that was lifted by some good performances from her and everyone else in the cast.
The first performance – Grande started off tonight with “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love),” a new song off of her Eternal Sunshine album. There is definitely a distinct late ’80s / early ’90s vibe to the song, but we certainly welcome it. The lyrics have a real maternity and intimacy to them, and it actually juxtaposes really well with the uptempo music.
We don’t think anyone out there was doubting Ariana’s vocal abilities before this performance, but just consider this yet another reminder of what she can do.
Before the second performance – Who would have thought we would have some sort of strange Moulin Rouge! themed sketch with her and Bowen Yang singing snippets of a billion different songs. How long did this take to rehearse?
The second song – “Imperfect for You.” This felt in some ways like more of a traditional ballad from Grande, albeit with a little country thrown in! Was that just us? It did feel like there were some inflections thrown in there with some of her typical pop leanings.
Odds are, this won’t be the last time we see Ariana on the show, whether it is as a host or performer.
Related – Go ahead and read some other news on Saturday Night Live now, including when the show could return
What did you think about Ariana Grande’s performance on Saturday Night Live?
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