Ariana Grande Responds to '7 Rings' Criticism: 'It's Never My Intention to Offend Anybody'

Ariana Grande has offered an apology in response to the backlash surrounding her latest single “7 rings“.

After Grande released the new track, rapper Princess Nokia, 26, shared a since-deleted video of herself on social media where she compared Grande’s “7 rings” line, “You like my hair? Gee, thanks, just bought it,” to her own song “Mine” from her mixtape 1992.

“Does that sound familiar to you? ‘Cause that sound really familiar to me. Oh my God!” Nokia said in the clip.

“Ain’t that the lil song I made about brown women and their hair? Hmmmm… sounds about white,” she added.

In a since-deleted Instagram Story, Grande, 25, responded to Nokia’s criticism, writing, “White women talking about their weaves is how we’re gonna solve racism.”

Popular Instagram account The Shade Room posted the deleted story, writing, “This #PostAndDelete by #ArianaGrande has fans upset because they feel she’s missing the point of the backlash.”

Grande then commented on the post to apologize. “Hi hi 🖤,” she wrote. “I think her intention was to be like… yay a white person disassociating the negative stariotype [sic] that is paired with the word ‘weave’… however I’m so sorry my response was out of pocket or if it came across the wrong way. Thanks for opening the conversation and like… to everyone for talking to me about it. It’s never my intention to offend anybody. 🖤.”

Rapper Soulja Boy also accused Grande of copying other songs, writing on Twitter, “You’re a thief.”

Grande dropped the single, the latest from her upcoming fifth album, just after midnight on Friday.

The R&B track was heavily inspired by “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music and it spoke to Grande’s strong friendships and new sense of independence following a difficult year that included the death of ex-boyfriend Mac Miller and her whirlwind failed romance with Pete Davidson.

“Wearing a ring but not cause I’m no Mrs./Bought matching diamonds for six of my bitches, I’d rather spoil all my friends with riches/Think retail therapy my new addiction,” Grande sings in the empowerment anthem, before affirming, “I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it.”

She even makes a nod to her emotional year, singing, “Been through some bad s—/I should be a sad bitch/Who would’ve thought it’d turn me to a savage/Rather be tied up with gauze and not strings/Write my own checks like I write what I sing.”

The singer previously revealed in a tweet that the “7 rings” belonged to her best pals, Victoria Monét, Tayla Parx, Courtney Chipolone, Njozma, Alexa Luria and Kaydence, who were all featured in the music video.