Ariana Grande’s Music Video Makeup Has So Much Meaning

It’s been a pretty big week — or month, rather — to be Ariana Grande. She’s been on a madcap promotional tour for her newest album, Eternal Sunshine, performing on Saturday Night Live and attending the Oscars on back-to-back days. As is the case with most pop stars, a fresh album brings an entirely different aesthetic to match, and Grande’s seems meticulously planned. Just like her ubiquitous bunny ears during the Dangerous Woman era, it looks like Grande’s cloud-shaped makeup is her latest signature look. It’s a fitting one, too, slotting right in with the title’s inspiration and so many of the songs — and her best-selling fragrance.

In the music video for “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)”, Grande essentially recreates the plot of the film Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, for which the album is named and conceptualized around. In the video’s climax, she’s seen with a fluffy white cloud drawn around one eye. Fans immediately started recreating the look — which the star also wore for her SNL musical guest spot — so Grande generously decided to show a behind-the-scenes look at how her makeup artist, Ash K. Holm, made it all happen. Holm carefully painted the piece on by hand, using a fine-tipped brush from Spectrum x Katie Jane Hughes collection.

It makes sense that the part-time makeup mogul and full-time singer would lean into a highly visual, instantly noticeable cosmetics moment for the new single and just-released video. It’s become the track’s — and by extension, the album’s — signature look, one fans are bound to recreate once she inevitably starts touring.

The rest of the video is filled with similarly exciting looks, including a smattering of 3D flowers all around her eyes as she recreates the namesake movie’s snow angel-making scene, and the long, almond-shaped French tips she’s been loving for a few years now. Technically, the Eternal Sunshine album is still just less than just a week old and it’s already one of the most aesthetically (and sonically) stunning of her entire career. Considering she’s just started promoting it, expect to see that trademark cloud again very soon.