"7 Rings" is a song by American singer-songwriter

Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Regarded as a pop icon and an influential figure in popular music, Grande is known for her four-octave vocal range, which extends into the whistle re ...

. It was released on January 18, 2019, by

Republic Records Republic Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Based in New York City, it was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially ...

as the second single from her fifth studio album '' Thank U, Next'' (2019). The song was written by Grande, Victoria Monét, Tayla Parx, Njomza, and Kaydence, alongside its producers Tommy Brown, Charles Anderson, and Michael Foster, with additional writing credits going to

Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their musical ...

for an

interpolation In the mathematics, mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one ...

of their showtune " My Favorite Things" from ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...

.'' "7 Rings" broke numerous

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

records upon release. It debuted at number-one on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

, becoming Grande's second consecutive number-one in the United States. The single ultimately became her top-performing song on the chart, spending eight weeks at number one and 33 weeks on the chart overall. It has been certified as

Diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

, Grande's first solo single and overall second single to be certified Diamond. Globally, the song reached the number one spot on

record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, ofte ...

s in over 28 countries, as well as the top ten in 10 other countries. With sales of over 13.3 million copies worldwide as of December 2019, "7 Rings" is one of the best-selling songs in digital history. The song received nominations for

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without re ...

and

Best Pop Solo Performance The Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. According to the 54th Grammy Awards description guides, the Best Pop S ...

at the

62nd Annual Grammy Awards The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 26, 2020, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2018, to August 31, 2019. Ali ...

. Its accompanying music video, directed by Hannah Lux Davis, was critically acclaimed and won Best Art Direction at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards. A remix of the song, featuring American rapper

2 Chainz Tauheed K. Epps (born September 12, 1977), known professionally as 2 Chainz (formerly Tity Boi), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, he gained recognition as one-half of the Southern hip-hop duo Playaz Ci ...

, was released on February 1, 2019.

Background and release

A few weeks prior to the track's release, Republic Records contacted Imagem/ Concord Music, who owns the Rodgers & Hammerstein publishing rights, and agreed to give them 90 percent of the song's songwriting royalties, in order to acquire the rights to release the song. Grande first teased the track in the music video for " Thank U, Next", in which the first few seconds of the instrumental are used in the opening sequence, and the license plate of the car she drives reads "7 RINGS". The day after the video was released, Grande confirmed the existence of "7 Rings" and revealed the moment that inspired it on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

. The singer described the song as "a friendship anthem", later posting the single's artwork on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

along with its release date, January 18.

Composition and lyrics

"7 Rings" is a trap- pop song with elements of

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

and R&B that runs for 3 minutes, with Grande rapping the hook and final verse. It features a heavy bass and sees Grande discuss "how global success has allowed her to enjoy the finer things". ''Billboard'' magazine noted it's "the most hip-hop-leaning song Grande has released in the post-''

Sweetener A sweetener is a substance added to food or drink to impart the flavor of sweetness, either because it contains a type of sugar, or because it contains a sweet-tasting sugar substitute. Various natural non-sugar sweeteners (NSS) and artificial s ...

'' era yet, with Grande almost rapping the song's verses". The song channels the melody of ''

''s " My Favorite Things" in the verses: " 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". The song also interpolates the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Gimme the Loot". Grande and her team agreed to sign away 90% of the track's songwriting royalties at the request of the Concord music company. Grande described the song as a "friendship anthem" that "evolves" from previous single "Thank U, Next" while embracing a new chapter. She opens up about how her breakup with

Pete Davidson Peter Michael Davidson (born November 16, 1993) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He began his career in the early 2010s with minor guest roles on ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', ''Friends of the People'', ''Guy Code'', and ''Wild 'n O ...

led her to "treating her friends instead". The sheet music for "7 Rings" is in the key of

C minor C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of three flats. Its relative major is E major and its parallel major is C major. The C natural minor scale is: Cha ...

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 140 beats per minute. The vocal line spans from G₃ to C₆.

Critical reception

The song was met with mixed reviews. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''s Brittany Spanos review of "7 Rings" was positive, calling it "dangerously fun, and as deliriously intoxicating as the champagne at Tiffany's with all your best bitches." Markos Papadatos from ''Digital Journal'' praised Grande's vocals as "smooth and crystalline with a retro vibe to it" and said Grande has shown "consistency with the radio singles that she has put out, and each song stands out from a sonic and lyrical standpoint. "7 rings" is no different." Jamieson Cox from ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' was mixed in her review and said the song " sa letdown given all of the hype. This is ''The Sound of Music''s 'My Favorite Things' as flipped by Regina George, and its sneering tone is a far cry from ''Sweetener''s benevolence..." ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

''s editor, Spencer Kornhaber, criticized the song, writing:

he singleis raising hackles because it regresses to a more cartoonish, and imitative, use of black music than she's done before (not to mention the video's evocation of Japanese
kawaii ''Kawaii'' is a Japanese cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness, childlike innocence, charm, and simplicity. ''Kawaii'' culture began to flourish in the 1970s, driven by youth culture and the rise of cute characters in manga and anime ...
). She's wearing the culture as a costume—or even as a joke—not unlike white frat guys putting on fake grills for a "ratchet" party.

The song was ranked 31 on ''

''s year-end best songs of 2019.

Accolades

Commercial performance

"7 Rings" earned over 14.9 million plays in its first 24 hours on Spotify, breaking the platform's all-time counter record. However, only 8.5 million of these counted towards Spotify's Top 200 chart dated January 18, 2019. The song also broke the Spotify weekly record with over 70 million streams in its first week on the platform. In the United States, "7 Rings" debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 issue dated February 2, 2019, becoming Grande's second number-one single, following " Thank U, Next", and the 33rd song to do so. With this, Grande joined Carey (3) and

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

(2) as the only female artists with multiple number-one debuts; and at the time she was overall the fifth artist after

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is recognized for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by record executive Scooter Braun in 2008 and subsequently brought to the U ...

and

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

. She later broke the overall record with the number one debuts of " Stuck with U" and " Rain on Me". Grande also became the first artist to have their first two number-ones debut at the top spot. Among component charts, "7 Rings" debuted at the top of the

Streaming Songs The Streaming Songs chart is released weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine and lists each week's top streamed radio songs, on-demand songs and videos on leading online music services in the United States. The chart represents one ...

chart with 85.3 million US streams in the week ending January 24, 2019, according to Nielsen Music; the sum marked the second-biggest streaming week ever for a song by a female artist (after the aforementioned "Thank U, Next"). It also debuted at number one on the

Digital Songs The Digital Song Sales (previously named Digital Songs and Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Luminate and published by '' Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally started tracking ...

chart with 96,000 downloads. As the second single to her fifth album '' Thank U, Next'', Grande had two singles that debuted at number one on the chart, making Grande the third artist in history to have an album with two songs that debuted at number one on the Hot 100, after Drake's ''

Scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

'' in 2018 and Mariah Carey's ''

Daydream Daydreaming is a stream of consciousness that detaches from current external tasks when one's attention becomes focused on a more personal and internal direction. Various names of this phenomenon exist, including mind-wandering, fantasies, a ...

'' in 1995. "7 Rings" held the top spot for a fourth week following the release of her album '' Thank U, Next'', blocking her singles " Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" (which debuted at number two), and " Thank U, Next" (which rose up to number three). With three songs in the top 3, Grande became the first artist in history since

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

in 1964 to occupy the top 3 spots on the chart and the first and only solo artist to ever achieve this record. "7 Rings" remained atop the Hot 100 for eight non-consecutive weeks until it was unseated by "

Old Town Road "Old Town Road" is the debut mainstream single by the American rapper and singer Lil Nas X, first released independently in December 2018. After gaining popularity, the single was re-released by Columbia Records in March 2019. He also recorded ...

" by

Lil Nas X Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), better known by his stage name Lil Nas X ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his 2018 country rap single "Old Town Road," the longest-running nu ...

and descended to number three on April 13, 2019. It remained in the top ten for its first 16 weeks until it fell to number 11 on May 25, 2019. In the UK, "7 Rings" became Grande's fourth number one in the country. The single sold 126,000 units, becoming Grande's biggest opening week. It also set the record for the most streams of a song in a week with 16.9 million streams. On the issue dated 21 February 2019, "7 Rings" was replaced by " Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored", making Grande the second female artist to occupy the top two positions on the UK Singles Chart and the first female artist to self-replace on the top of the chart. The song reclaimed the summit position the following week, pushing "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" down to number two, and thus making Grande the first artist in the chart's history to self-replace for two consecutive weeks. As of March 2021, "7 Rings" is Grande's third most-streamed song in the United Kingdom and overall 18th most-streamed song by a female artist in the country. In Australia, the song debuted at number one, becoming Grande's 3rd number one single.

Music video

Background and reception

Grande shared a preview of the music video on January 14, 2019. The video itself premiered on January 18, 2019, on Grande's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel. The video features many of Grande's close friends, with whom a shopping trip inspired the song. The music video was directed by Hannah Lux Davis, who also directed the music videos for Grande's previous singles, " Breathin" and " Thank U, Next". ''

'' magazine called the pink-colored video "sassy", as Grande and her friends flash their diamond rings at a luxurious party in a "mansion that's decked with diamonds, graffiti, and a champagne tower". ''Digital Journal'' gave it an A rating, calling it "distinct and remarkable. It is creative and artistic and it will resonate with her fans." The "7 Rings" music video earned 23.6 million views in its first 24 hours. On June 1, 2021, it surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube, making it Grande's 6th music video to achieve the milestone since "No Tears Left To Cry". It has also exceeded 2 billion streams on Spotify.

Synopsis

The video begins outside a house with many women posing on cars and caressing each other. Next, the title appears, reading out "7 Rings" (and written in Japanese as ""). The song then begins with Grande outside showing a far shot showing Grande and many other women, which then transitions to Grande in the kitchen with added pink LED lights around her. She is shown wearing jewelry around her neck and ears, and some on her hair. She also sports pink hair extensions. The scene then moves to a party that shows Grande and backup dancers dancing and drinking champagne. Afterwards, the next scene depicts Grande in front of a tower of champagne coupes. The scene after shows Grande pouring a champagne bottle over them and also shows Grande's real-life friends including Alexa Luria and singer/songwriter Victoria Monét (who also contributed songwriting to the track). The next scene then shows Grande laying down on the staircase with

Rapunzel "Rapunzel" ( ; ; or ) is a German fairy tale most notably recorded by the Brothers Grimm and it was published in 1812 as part of '' Children's and Household Tales'' (KHM 12). The Grimms' story was developed from the French literary fairy tale ...

-inspired ponytail, also signifying her ex-boyfriend

's apartment. While also still showing scenes earlier in the video, a scene also shows Grande pouring a bottle over the champagne tower, which ends up falling down. The next scene involves a

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll, Bild Lilli doll which Hand ...

-inspired house showing Grande in a pink latex outfit (similar to ''Dangerous Woman''). It then shows Grande ripping the wallpaper to peek inside. The final change is of Grande in a room with green lights giving resemblance to ''Wicked''. The final scenes are of Grande outside with all her friends and backup dancers including her dog Toulouse.

Controversies

2 Chainz at Pretty Girls Like Trap Music Tour

Grande was accused by American rapper Princess Nokia for plagiarism of her song "Mine". American rappers

Soulja Boy DeAndre Cortez Way (born July 28, 1990), known professionally as Soulja Boy (formerly Soulja Boy Tell 'Em), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to prominence with his self-released 2007 debut single, "Crank That ...

and

also accused Grande of plagiarizing their respective songs " Pretty Boy Swag" and " Spend It", alongside the music video for the song featuring similar concepts to Chainz’ most recent album. However, after severe backlash from fans, Princess Nokia deleted the video accusing Grande around the same time the remix with 2 Chainz was released. Grande would later appear on the track " Rule the World" from 2 Chainz's fifth studio album '' Rap or Go to the League'' (2019). Grande was subject to criticism and some ridicule after getting a tattoo commemorative of the song which read (''Shichirin'') in Japanese. While the

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

that comprise the word literally translate to "seven" and "ring" respectively, shichirin commonly refers to a specific type of small barbecue grill or brazier. A later attempt to fix the tattoo by the addition of the character ''yubi'' (, lit. "Finger") beneath 「七」, to give ''Shichi yubiwa'' (''yubiwa'' meaning "ring", as in the piece of jewelry) only drew further criticism.

Track listing

* Digital download #"7 Rings" – 2:58 *Digital download – Remix #"7 Rings (Remix)" featuring

– 2:58 * 7-inch vinyl – cassette #"7 Rings" (Explicit) – 2:58 #"7 Rings" (Edited) – 2:58

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal and ''Thank U, Next''s

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

. Recording * Recorded at Jungle City Studios (

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

) and

The Record Plant The Record Plant was a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and last operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it produced highly influential albums, including the New York ...

(

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

) * Mixed at MixStar Studios (

Virginia Beach Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the List of cities in Virginia, most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeaster ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

) * Mastered at Sterling Sound (New York City, New York) Management * Published by Universal Music Group Corp. (

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

), GrandAri Music (ASCAP), Victoria Monét Music Publishing (ASCAP), Taylor Monét Music/Warner Chappell ( BMI), OWSLA (ASCAP) and District 1-12/Avex Music Publishing (ASCAP) * Contains a sample from " My Favorite Things", written by

Oscar Hammerstein II Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and director in musical theater for nearly 40 years. He won eight Tony Awards and two Academy Award ...

and

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers wa ...

, published by Williamson Music Co. (ASCAP) Production *

– vocals, songwriter, vocal producer * Victoria Monét – backing vocals, songwriter, vocal producer * Tayla Parx – backing vocals, songwriter * Njomza Vitia – songwriter * Kimberly Krysiuk – songwriter *Tommy Brown – songwriter, producer, programming * Michael Foster – songwriter, producer, programming * Charles Anderson – songwriter, producer, programming *

– songwriter *

– songwriter *Billy Hickey –

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

*Brendan Morawski – recording *Sean Klein – recording assistant *

Serban Ghenea Serban Ghenea () is a Canadian audio engineer and mixer. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award a total of 45 times and has won 21 times. Early life and education Ghenea was born in Romania, and in 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. H ...

Background and release

Composition and lyrics

Critical reception

Accolades

Commercial performance

Music video

Background and reception

Synopsis

Controversies

Track listing

Credits and personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

See also

References