Ariana Grande gifts fans with “excuse me, i love you,” her new concert documentary that follows Grande as she is on The Sweetener World Tour. The film is set to be released on Dec. 21, a year after the tour finished, which ran through most of 2019.
The film will specifically share “a behind-the-scenes look at her life in rehearsal and on the road,” Netflix said. It will be one hour and 37 minutes long and will also include recorded live stage performances from Grande.
The film was initially hinted at in posts to Grande’s Instagram and Twitter pages where she put up three black and white photos without captions and only Netflix tagged in the pictures. Because of this, fans began speculating what the pictures meant. These posts were made Dec. 8.
On Dec. 9, Grande revealed the special. “The sweetener world tour is coming home to u,” she said under her post.
Even though the film could not capture the entire tour, Grande said she is just thankful for fans. Grande said, “i just wanted to thank u all for showing me more in this lifetime already than i ever dreamed of.”
The pop star’s fans can also expect to see an emotional side to Grande, as Entertainment discussed. In the trailer of the film, you can see Grande crying and talking about how the show saved her life.
“I’ve learned, seen, and felt so much. It’s been such an honor to share so much of this life with u,” she said.
Fans can expect to get a closer look at Grande’s world while being able to experience some of the tour for the first time or to relive moments from it for those that got to see a live show. They will get “a mixture of exuberant live performance footage,” Rolling Stone reported.
The documentary was named after a lyric on her song “R.E.M” that said, “Excuse me, um, I love you,” according to the New York Post.
The tour had a combination of both Sweetener and Thank U, Next tracks. In addition, the tour had 101 shows in total and became her highest grossing tour. “The Sweetener World Tour with $146.4 million and 1.3 million tickets sold,” Billboard said.
Although Grande teamed up with Netflix for the documentary film, she has commemorated the tour in the past. In fact, she released K Bye For Now (SWT Live) a live album on Dec. 23, 2019.
Although it’s not clear which specific show that Grande will showcase in the film, it is said to be one of her London shows, according to Capital FM. In a review by The Guardian on Grande’s tour date at O2 Arena, London, Alexis Petridis writes, “Grande’s vocals are given the spotlight in a show that’s refreshingly understated … for a gig involving a neon limousine, cascading bank notes and a re-creation of The Last Supper.” He also said that Grande’s show is a mixture of “crowd-pleasing anthems of female resilience.”
Sweetener was Grande’s 4th studio album that was released on Aug. 17, 2018. Since it’s release, Grande has won her first, and only grammy for “Best Pop Album” at the 2019 Grammy Awards. Also, the album was awarded “Pop Album of the Year” at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards.
The album also peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 on Sept. 1, 2018. It became her 3rd album to do so. She later gained two more No. 1 albums, with Thank U, Next from 2019, and most recently with Positions, which came out in October.
People are excited about the film. “IM SO EXCITED FOR THIS,” one Twitter user wrote.
Recently, Grande was involved in another film project with Mariah Carey. She made a guest appearance in Mariah Carey’s special, “Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special, which premiered on Dec. 4. She sings on the song “Oh Santa!” with Carey and Jennifer Hudson.
Grande wanted to let fans enjoy the full experience of her film, beyond the film itself. For instance, the post from Dec. 14 said that leading up to the release of the film, fans should expect surprises like a first-look clip and custom gifs, while after the film’s release they can expect an Instagram filter based on the film.
“Making music and doing all of this has been all i’ve known or fully given myself to consistently for a very long time now. although my heart is looking forward to a change of pace, i wanted to express again just how eternally thankful i am,” she said.
As an artist, Grande has had a rewarding year. She amassed 4 billion streams on Spotify, which equated to 157.6 million listeners, according to her Spotify wrap up for 2020, which she posted in an Instagram post on Dec. 2. “i am equally grateful as i am terrified,” she said in the post’s caption.
