Ariana Grande's "The Light Is Coming" Contains a Vocal Sample With a Hidden Political Meaning

Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj released their newest collaborative track from Ariana's upcoming album Sweetener on Wednesday (June 20). And no matter how many times you may have already listened to "The Light Is Coming," you might have missed the song's possible important meaning.

Fans certainly were quick to pick up on the singer's willingness to experiment with new sounds and the track's "cute visuals," but many were left wondering about the vocal sample appearance in the single. Throughout "The Light Is Coming," someone's voice can be heard saying, "You wouldn't let anybody speak and instead..."

While some on Twitter weren't exactly on board with the sample, saying "it throws off the whole song" and "The Light is Coming would be 400x better if there wasn't a voice constantly in the background," one journalist did her part to figure out why the clip may have been included.

As reported by Buzzfeed, Madeline Roth of MTV News shared a clip from CNN that appears to have captured the speech in question. "Soo, the sample in @ArianaGrande’s #TheLightIsComing (“you wouldn’t let anybody speak!”) appears to be from a CNN archive clip of a man shouting at Sen. Arlen Specter at a Pennsylvania town hall meeting in 2009," she tweeted.

Buzzfeed then conducted further research on the sample, and found that Pharrell, who produced "The Light Is Coming," also used the sample in the N.E.R.D. and Rihanna song "Lemon" (now we get why those two songs sound sort of similar!).

Additionally, Buzzfeed theorized that the use of the quote from the town hall, which was later referred to by media as a "town hell," helped "The Light Is Coming" convey a narrative of being unheard. They point to the use of Nicki and Ari's lyrical back and forth, noting how the line "The light is coming to give back everything the darkness stole," comes before the vocal sample. When put together, the chorus and the sample act as a conversation, Buzzfeed points out, and it's almost as if the duo are encouraging those listening to come together and listen to the voices of others.

Despite the detective work regarding where the sample came from, many fans have remained on the fence regarding the clip. Some want Ariana to address the "backstory" of why the voice was used, while others have remained "confused."

Ariana herself has yet to explain the exact meaning behind the song, but she did previously share in an interview with The Fader that she wanted to try something different with this album, and the track certainly is more experimental than her previous work. We'll have to wait until August 17 when Sweetener drops to see how the song fits into the larger album picture.

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