How Ariana Grande changed Brandy and Monica's ‘The Boy Is Mine’ into a 'bad girl anthem'

Ariana Grande enlisted R&B vets, Brandy and Monica, for the video to her latest hit song, “The Boy Is Mine.”

The "Eternal Sunshine" singer released the “The Boy Is Mine” track, which pays homage to Brandy and Monica's hit '90s song of the same name, in early June and told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that she's always been a fan of the record.

“I love that song. I always wanted to reimagine that song in some kind of way,” she said in a March 7 interview, noting that her version is also a “bad girl anthem.”

In the original song, which was released in 1998, the two artists sing about dating the same guy and their frustration with the other for not letting him go.

In the chorus they say, “You need to give it up / I had about enough / It’s not hard to see / The boy is mine / I’m sorry that you / Seem to be confused / He belongs to me / The boy is mine.”

However, in Grande's rendition, she's not competing with another for her love interest. Rather, she sings about her desire to be with someone who doesn't yet know her.

“Somethin’ about him is made for somebody like me / Baby, come over, come over (Oh my) / And God knows I’m tryin', but there’s just no use in denying / The boy is mine / I can’t wait to try him / Le-let’s get intertwined,” she croons.

To pay homage to the original track, Grande tapped Brandy and Monica for roles in her music video, which centers on a rat crisis in a metropolitan city.

In the video, Brandy and Monica play news reporters who announce that the city's mayor, played by Penn Badgley, plans to address the ongoing issue. His solution to the rat problem is simple: let hungry stray cats loose in the city.

“That’s f---ing brilliant,” Grande says after hearing his plan.

Soon after his announcement, it's revealed that Grande is obsessed with the mayor and that she plays to seduce him. She later breaks into the "You" actor's apartment dressed in a cat costume and tries to give him a love potion.

However, she ends up not needing the potion since Badgley is very much into Grande.

This is a huge departure from Monica and Brandy's music video which pitted the two singers against each other.

Fans online couldn't get enough of the legendary R&B singers' surprise cameos.

"Brandy and Monica as the news reporters!!! Iconic!!" one person wrote on YouTube.

Another said, "It’s brilliant that ariana paid homage to the original 'the boy is mine' by having Brandy and Monica make a cameo in this music video :)."

However, Grande didn't stop there. She also got Brandy and Monica to appear on the remix of her song, and in the new version, she added a bridge that reportedly alluded to her new relationship with her "Wicked" co-star Ethan Slater.

In the bridge, the trio says, "Yeah, said he wanna make plans with me, but I don’t f--- with affairs, you see (I know) / But listen what they say to me, (if it ain’t broke, then it can’t be broken) / Well, he better sort out his business, ‘cause I’ll never be nobody’s mistress."

After hearing the track, one person praised the song and said, "Ariana, Brandy and Monica are the trio we never knew we needed like this remix is a masterpiece omg THE VOCALS ARE PERFECTION."

Another quoted her lyrics and said, "The “Well he better sort out his business, ‘cause I’ll be nobody’s mistress” is giving SLAYYYY."

Brandy and Monica also weighed in on the collaboration and working closely with Grande on the remix.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Monica said she adores Grande's version.

"I've always said that the song should not be touched, right? And I said that because I felt that it did not need to be redone in the idea of, let's say, actually doing it the exact way that it was," she explained. "But ... as soon as I heard this version, I fell in love with it."

Monica also said that working with the 30-year-old singer came together pretty easily, noting that Grande's enthusiasm for the project helped to sell her on the collaboration.

“What I am so amazed by is her humility, her compassion," she said. "On the day that we recorded, I received flowers and a note that was directly from her. Everything has been directly from her chest and, for me, authenticity, humility, all of those things are key.”

On X, Brandy also praised Grande and wrote, "Love you Ariana. Thank you for embracing us with so much warmth and kindness. Overjoyed to celebrate this moment with you and @MonicaDenise."

Read on to see the line by line breakdown of how Ariana Grande's "The Boy Is Mine" differs from Brandy and Monica's 1998 song of the same name.

Ariana Grande — "The Boy Is Mine"

Brandy and Monica — “The Boy Is Mine”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com