With a title like "God Is A Woman," it's no surprise that Ariana Grande is pretty frank on her latest single. Grande's "God Is A Woman" lyrics are all about female sexual empowerment. She released the song from her forthcoming album Sweetener on Friday, and fans are already in love with her powerful message. And while Pope Francis probably isn't listening to "God Is A Woman" (as one fan account tweeted), women everywhere can get inspired by her sexual lyrics.
Grande's song has a religiously subversive — and absolutely badass — title, and the lyrical content is not any less scandalous. The song covers how her sexual partner will "believe God is a woman" after she is finished with him. The salacious nature of the song is what some might even call blasphemous. But Grande isn't worried about the backlash. The singer responded on Twitter to a fan who asked her if she was worried about people's responses to the religious reference in her song.
"I was expecting it and of course understand it ... but it's art. It's okay if not everybody understands everything I do," Grande wrote. "I'm grateful for the opportunity to be myself and inspire others to do that as well. I would rather do that than play it safe."
And that freedom of expression and that freedom to be herself is actually what the lyrics of "God Is A Woman" are all about.
Grande kicks off the song with the chorus and gets right to the point that her sexual prowess is undeniable:
You, you love it how I move you / You love it how I touch you / My one, when all is said and done / You'll believe God is a woman / And I, I feel it after midnight / A feelin' that you can't fight / My one, it lingers when we're done / You'll believe God is a woman
But beyond pleasing her partner, she's also focused on her own pleasure in the first verse, singing:
And I can tell that you know I know how I want it / Ain't nobody else can relate / Boy, I like that you ain't afraid / Baby, lay me down and let's pray / I'm telling you the way I like it, how I want it
The lyric, "I'm telling you the way I like it, how I want it," in particular is a testament to how important it is that a woman communicates her wants and needs during sex.
Throughout the song, Grande continues to take control, singing, "And I can tell that you know I know how I want it." Later in the same verse, she teases her partner, saying that she will be the one to decide just how worthy of her time she is. "And boy, if you confess, you might get blessed / See if you deserve what comes next / I'm telling you the way I like it, how I want it," she says.
The lyric, "See if you deserve what comes next," is especially strong, showing off just how confident Grande is — her partner should be grateful to be in the presence of her sexual power. The assertiveness in the lyrics is so unapologetic, it inspired one fan to ascribe the term "big dick energy" to the singer, a trait previously identified as belonging to her fiancé Pete Davidson (and that launched an internet meme).
While the song is obviously about how she reigns supreme in the bedroom, fans have taken much more than sex from the lyrics. As Grande's own mom, Joan Grande, said in a tweet, the song is not just about sexual liberation for women. "God Is a Woman" is a reminder to everyone that women are powerful and deserve to be respected.
Grande's "God Is a Woman" is definitely a sexy jam, and the fact that women are saying on Twitter that they want to have sex to the song proves that it's empowering. As Grande's mom said, "It should provide strength and power" — and that strength and power should be present both in and out of the bedroom.
