On Thursday (17 January), Ariana Grande treated fans with the release of her highly-anticipated song 7 Rings, along with the rose-tinted music video.

“Wearing a ring but not cause I’m no Mrs./Bought matching diamonds for six of my bitches, I’d rather spoil all my friends with riches/Think retail therapy my new addiction,” Grande sings in the R&B anthem, which riffs on the Favourite Things song from The Sound of Music.

She goes on to add: “I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it.”

Taking to Twitter ahead of the release, Grande explained that the song is intended to be a friendship anthem, comparing its energy to one of her last singles, Thank U, Next, which was a big thank you song to her ex-boyfriends.

“I guess Thank U, Next is more vulnerable and gentle,” she wrote. “Seven rings is just like… a flex. Friendship anthem. How the homies WANT u to feel. What the Thank U Next energy evolves into while embracing a new chapter (even tho both moods /energies are v present).”

Check it out:

Speaking to Billboard during her ‘Woman of the Year’ interview, Grande previously opened up about the inspiration for 7 Rings.

“It was a… challenging fall day in New York,” Grande told the magazine, likely alluding to her the aftermath of her high-profile split from Pete Davidson.

“Me and my friends went to Tiffany’s together, just because we needed some retail therapy. And you know how when you’re waiting at Tiffany’s they give you lots of champagne? They got us very tipsy, so we bought seven engagement rings, and when I got back to the studio I gave everybody a friendship ring.” 

By ‘everybody’, Grande means Victoria Monét, Tayla Parx, Courtney Chipolone, Njozma, Alexa Luria, and Kaydence, all of whom feature in the video.

Grande added: “That’s why we have these, and that’s where the song idea came from.”

It’s a beautiful story, and one which will surely resonate with many of Grande’s fans. After all, studies have shown that our girlfriends may play a far greater role in our lives than we might imagine, with research showing that those chats with your girlfriends are vital to your health and may well help prolong your life.

Shelley E. Taylor, author and a world-renowned expert on stress and health, tells Positively Beautiful that women are genetically hard-wired for friendship as a means of coping with stress, theorising that a common female stress response is what she calls “tend and befriend.”

Taylor adds that our evolutionary heritage suggests women who formed strong bonds with one another were more apt to survive and that, over time, women have learned to turn to one another for support and solace and have thus become crucial to one another in times of stress.

This may have something to do with the fact that oxytocin, known as a calming hormone, is released during stress, enhancing the ability to nurture and be nurtured.

“Because oestrogen increases oxytocin’s effects, it’s likely to be more important in women’s stress response than men’s,” Taylor says.

All hail the power of female friendship!

Image: Getty