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By Sophie Lloyd
Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter
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Since Ariana Grande broke up with husband Dalton Gomez in July, rumors have circled about a romance between the 30-year-old and her Wicked co-star Ethan Slater.
The pair were seen together at Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh's Oscars party in March. At the time, both Grande and Slater were believed to be happily married, with the 31-year-old not announcing his split from wife Lilly Jay until July.
However, fans are speculating that Grande's song "Fantasize" may be about Slater. In the unreleased demo, which was leaked online in June, the singer fantasizes about a man who is in a relationship.
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"No, I can't get behind what Ariana is writing about Ethan. It's wrong," wrote TikTok user Raven, while @gossipygirlie soundtracked footage of Slater performing in the SpongeBob SquarePants musical—for which he received a Tony Award nomination in 2018—with some of the more explicit "Fantasize" lyrics.
"I still can't get over the fact that ariana grande wrote this song about him," the poster wrote alongside the clip, which has received over 16 million views.
"Have you guys read the lyrics to the full song? If that's really about Ethan that means that Ariana was cheating for months !!!!!!" posted @malagrug on TikTok.
However, the song does not appear to have been written about Slater. The track was recorded in August 2021, according to fan site arianagrande.fandom.com, long before Wicked began filming in December 2022.
The tune was initially called "90s idea number 3 2.1," with fans dubbing it "Fantasize" due to the lyrics. At the time of the leak, Grande commented on a TikTok video about the song, saying that she wrote the melody for a comedy sketch about a girl group.
"Please stop spreading leaks. i appreciate it," the star wrote in the now-deleted comment.
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On September 4, the song charted on Spotify's Daily Top Songs Philippines list, after being uploaded by a fake profile called "Adriana Venti." Uploaded as "But Just Before I Go, Theres Something You Should Know," the track received more than 70,000 streams before being removed.
Grande and Slater have not confirmed their relationship, but in July, People magazine wrote that the pair had begun dating. After the report broke, Slater made his Instagram account private. Newsweek has emailed Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater for comment on this report.
On September 1, People reported that the rumored couple did not get together until after Slater had ended things with Jay. Newsweek has not been able to verify this claim. The magazine said the relationship was much different than what has been portrayed in public.
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