Ariana Grande is paying homage to several teen movies in her new music video for "Thank U, Next," and with Mean Girls being in the mix, she naturally called upon former All My Children star Jonathan Bennett (ex-J.R. Chandler) to make an appearance.
Soap opera fans may recall that Bennett appeared in the Lindsay Lohan film back in 2004 as Aaron Samuels, the object of leading lady Cady's affection -- whom her nemesis, Regina (played by Rachel McAdams in the film), steals away.
Grande is taking on the part of Regina for her "Thank U, Next" video and took to social media to tease that Bennett will appear alongside her in the upcoming throwback production.
"Aaron [heart] Regina. Thank U, Next," Bennett captioned an Instagram picture of him and Grande.
"That's CRAZY......why would I break up with u? Ur so hot," Grande replied, taking a quote directly from Mean Girls.
"So you agree?? You think I'm really hot?" Bennett responded.
Grande also posted some behind-the-scenes photos that show her and Bennett alongside Regina's "Plastics," which include Alexa Luria as Karen Smith, Courtney Chipolone as Gretchen Wieners, and Elizabeth Gillies as Cady Heron. (Which means, sadly, that neither daytime alum Amanda Seyfried [ex-Joni Stafford, AMC; ex-Lucinda Montgomery, As the World Turns) nor Lacey Chabert [ex-Bianca Montgomery, AMC] will be reprising their Mean Girls roles for the music video.)
Mean Girls isn't the only teen film that Grande has teased will play a part in the "Thank U, Next" music video. Jennifer Coolidge will be making an appearance as her Legally Blonde character, Paulette Bonafonte, and both Bring It On and 13 Going on 30 will be featured in the video.
"Thank U, Next" is burning up the Hot 100, and earned Grande her first No.1 when it debuted atop the chart on November 12. The song has also broken Spotify records: On November 5, 2018, "Thank U, Next" garnered the most streams received by a song in a single day by a female artist, with 8.19 million streams globally. The song then surpassed 100 million streams eleven days after its release on November 14, 2018, becoming the fastest song to do so in Spotify history.
Though Grande has made several teases about the content of her "Thank U, Next" music video, she has yet to reveal when the video will be released.
All My Children's J.R. was one of Jonathan Bennett's first roles, which he played from 2001 to 2002. In addition to appearing in major films like Mean Girls, he has a slew of television credits to his name. Some include Veronica Mars, Smallville, Boston Public, and Awkward. He began hosting Food Network's Cake Wars in 2015 and recently hosted the network's Halloween Wars.
Fans can also see Bennett in the upcoming Hallmark holiday movie Christmas Made to Order -- which also stars J.R. Chandler's other former portrayer, Jacob Young (Rick Forrester, The Bold and the Beautiful) -- on Sunday, December 23. For more details and to watch a teaser trailer, click here.
What do you think of Jonathan Bennett reprising his Mean Girls role for Ariana Grande's new music video? What do you think of the singer paying homage to teen movies in her "Thank U, Next" video? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
