Ever since Ariana Grande’s single, “thank u, next” came out, everyone speculated how the music video would turn out. To add to the hype, Ariana ended up posting a few sneak peek photos on her various social media platforms. As predicted, the music video was very entertaining and did not disappoint. Here are some details on how the music video was created and the mounds of pop culture references in it.

One minute in, the music video was already straight up hilarious, with references to widely recognized movies such as Mean Girls, Legally Blond, Bring it On, and 13 Going on Thirty. It was incredibly well directed and fast-paced. As director Hannah Lux Davis explained, the music video concept was born right after Grande released her “breathin’” music video.

Everything was shot in LA, from the high school set to an actual house. Davis recalls the editing process of “thank u, next” as “just two girls behind a monitor working on the most anticipated music video.”

Of course, since the music video was shot in only three days, a lot of the scenes were spontaneous. Consequently, there were a lot of subtle details that you may have missed if you only watched the video once, one being when Ariana sang the famous line about her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller, who just died this year. You can see that she looks up, which we can assume is to his soul in heaven. Also, you might not have caught the pictures and notes in the Burn Book, all authentic ones of Ariana with her past partners.

There’s actually a lot of emotional meanings behind each of these scenes in this iconic music video. The wedding scene featured from 13 Going On 30, for example, was a very heartfelt movie scene recreated to represent her feelings over one of her exes. To tie it all together, the nail salon scene from Legally Blonde at the end represents Ariana’s way of moving on from her past relationships, just like Elle did in the movie. Even though there was a lot speculation about whether the music video was created just to shade her ex-fiance Pete Davidson, Ariana shut all this controversy down by tweeting, “no drags…no shade…jus [sic] love, gratitude, acceptance, honesty, forgiveness…and growth.” Everything’s genuinely light-hearted when you watch it, yet there’s meaning behind it all.

Overall, Ariana Grande’s highly-anticipated, “thank u, next” music video was more than just entertaining. The inspiring message of moving on from past relationships and being the best version of yourself has already empowered a lot of people, no matter the gender, race, or age. It was definitely a needed music video, intended to spice up the last few months of 2018 as much as possible. The next time you see yet another Instagram photo with the “basic” caption “thank u, next,” hopefully it means a little more to you.