Ariana Grande’s hit song “7 Rings” borrows from the Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music.
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But it’s not the only song the pop star referenced, and what ensued was a cascading series of events that also included a misspelled tattoo.
Curious about what “small charcoal grill, finger heart” means? Read on.
I Want It, I Got It
Following her public breakup with comedian Pete Davidson, Grande celebrated her wealth and friends by shopping for rings. She’d replaced her engagement ring with one purchased on a shopping spree in New York.
Yeah, breakfast at Tiffany’s and bottles of bubbles
Girls with tattoos who like getting in trouble
Lashes and diamonds, ATM machines
Buy myself all of my favorite things (yeah)
(An aside: the ‘M’ in ATM means “machine,” but the writers needed something to rhyme with “things,” so automated teller machine machines it is).
On social media, Grande said she’d purchased matching rings for six close friends and then explained how the experience turned into a song.
My smile is beamin’, my skin is gleamin’
The way it shine, I know you’ve seen it (you’ve seen it)
I bought a crib just for the closet
Both his and hers, I want it, I got it, yeah
Ariana’s Friends and Collaborators
A long list of songwriters received credit on “7 Rings,” and some joined the singer for the splurge at Tiffany’s.
Victoria Monét was part of Grande’s lucky crew, who songwriter Tayla Parx also joined. (Parx collaborated with Grande on “Thank You, Next,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Tints,” and Khalid’s “Love Lies,” among others).
Singer and songwriter Njomza, who collaborated on “Thank You, Next,” was there and is also credited as a co-writer.
Other writers include Charles Anderson and Michael Foster, who comprise the duo Social House, and Kimberly Krysiuk, who has written hits for Beyoncé and H.E.R.
Music producer and frequent Grande collaborator Tommy Brown is credited—he played an important part in the plagiarism lawsuit surrounding “7 Rings.”
A Stolen Song?
Princess Nokia posted a video on Twitter accusing Grande of plagiarism. In the video, Nokia listens to “7 Rings” and then her song “Mine” before asking her followers, “Does that sound familiar to you?”
But the accusations didn’t stop with Nokia. Soulja Boy and 2 Chainz brought similar allegations against Grande, though a “7 Rings” remix featuring 2 Chainz seemed to end the argument with him.
Still, the charges kept coming. Josh Stone, who performs as DOT, filed a lawsuit against Grande and her co-writers for their hit’s similarities to DOT’s song “I Got It.”
CNN reported Stone met with Universal Music Group in June 2017 and played several tracks, including “I Got It.” Tommy Brown was also at the meeting.
The lawsuit quotes Brown telling Stone he “enjoyed ‘I Got It’ very much and was interested in exploring opportunities to work together.” Grande eventually settled the lawsuit with Stone.
A Tough Year
When Grande hosted Saturday Night Live in 2016, she joked during her monologue how she’d reached a point in her career where she needed a scandal. Three albums into her career, Grande quipped she needed a Justin Bieber-like scandal.
It may have been a gag, but eventually, things would become messy for the star.
Her relationship with Davidson kept the tabloids juiced.
Grande indirectly references Davidson in “7 Rings,” but the end of a relationship wasn’t the only trouble in the pop star’s life. Her ex-boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller, died in September 2018 at age 26.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner revealed Miller’s death resulted from an accidental fentanyl and cocaine overdose.
Been through some bad s–t, I should be a sad bitch
Who woulda thought it’d turn me to a savage?
Rather be tied up with calls and not strings
Write my own checks like I write what I sing, yeah (yeah)
But she and Davidson were through, and Grande replaced her (reported) $93,000 engagement ring with a new one—leading her to write “7 Rings.”
Misspelled Tattoo
To celebrate the success of “7 Rings,” Grande wanted a tattoo of the Japanese translation of the song title inked onto her palm. Unfortunately, her translation was wrong, and instead, her tattoo reads as shichirin, meaning a “small charcoal grill.”
The Cut reported how she tried to fix the mess. However, adding characters below the original tattoo made matters worse. As a result, her tattoo now reads as “small charcoal grill, finger heart.” (Credit to Kotaku for translating the tattoo).
A Colossal Mess but a Hit Song
Despite the controversies, “7 Rings” is one of Grande’s most successful songs. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and received more than 2 billion plays on Spotify.
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Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
