Penn Badgley and Ariana Grande in the “The Boy Is Mine” music video.
Courtesy of Republic Records
Penn Badgley goes from stalker to the stalked in Ariana Grande's music video “The Boy Is Mine.”
The “You” star and producer plays the mayor of a New York-like city who tries to end a growing rat problem by rounding up local stray cats and releasing them all to eradicate the rodents. Grande plays a city dweller who becomes obsessed with Badgley's character, Max, and creates a love potion to make him fall for her.
About halfway through the six-minute video, Grande is seen making a Catwoman costume and putting it on as she heads to Max's apartment, where she uses her cat's claws to dig a round hole in Max's window and enter his house.
Surprised to see her in bed, he tries to escape, but she grabs him by the leg with her whip and tries to force him to drink the love potion. Instead, he breaks the potion by smashing it against the wall, removes her Catwoman mask, and makes love to her without the potion. At the last moment, the two live happily together in an apartment with several cats.
“The Boy Is Mine” is a single from Grande's latest album, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” which was released in March. It samples Brandy and Monica's 1998 hit of the same name, and in the music video, both artists appear as news reporters discussing Mayor Sterling's plans and campaign.
Brandy and Monica in Ariana Grande's music video for “The Boy Is Mine,” courtesy of Republic Records
The singer previously teased Badgley's appearance in the video by posting a TikTok post on her official account of the Gossip Girl actor dancing to the chorus of “the boy is mine.”
Grande also briefly reunites with her Victorious co-star Elizabeth Gillies, who voices the mouse at the start of the music video.
Halle Berry, who played the iconic Catwoman in the 2004 film named after the DC Comics character, endorsed Grande's all-black look in the video. Commented Music Video Clip Shared by Grande's fan account on X (formerly Twitter), the post read, “Ali, I know! I'm alive.”
