Ever since Ariana Grande unleashed Eternal Sunshine onto the world, it was not her voice that echoed through Luna’s mind, but her grandmother’s. Marjorie (which, on a side note, also happened to be the name of Taylor Swift’s grandmother). Surely, at ninety-eight years old, she must know far more about love than most other people on the planet. Right? Either that or, as Luna wagered, she remains trapped in a past that was still capable of believing in romance at all. Worse still, the concept of “true love.” In fact, Marjorie Grande (formerly D’Amico) hails from a generation of women who had only just started to dabble in the idea of “rebellion” (if wanting equal rights for your gender can be considered rebellious). 

Case in point, it was only five years before Marjorie was born (in 1925) that the nineteenth amendment was even incorporated into the U.S. Constitution. So maybe some aspect of Marjorie’s ability to believe in devout loyalty to one man—the “right” man—is rooted in the era during which she was born and came of age. Hence, the piece of advice she gives her granddaughter on Eternal Sunshine’s finale, “ordinary things.” A somewhat misleading title considering that the crux of AG’s message on it is this: “No matter what we do/There’s never gonna be no ordinary things/No ordinary things with you.” Like several songs on the album, these unapologetically maudlin sentiments (though not more maudlin than what Jennifer Lopez offers listeners on This Is Me…Now) are somewhat difficult to stomach because one is only picturing Ethan Slater. 

And obviously, the “ordinary things” Grande references on this track are only what rich people would deem “garden variety.” Take, for example, suggesting, “We could go pop all the champagne in California” and “We could have omakase in Tokyo if you wanna.” The implication being that, when one is romantically linked to Grande, it’s not as though there’s any obstacle to just how over-the-top romantic her dates can be. Complete with no geographical limitations. Luna thought about how that might only further one’s deluded perspective on love. Because it’s easy to feel “giddy” about someone when you have the option to use the trick of varied, luxurious settings to distract from who they really are, and any potential issues you might have with their personality. 

When Luna thought about it, the way Grande painted this idyllic, decadent picture of her current romance harkened back to the first song on thank u, next: “imagine.” In a similarly rose-colored glasses fashion, she muses, “Stayin’ up all night/Order me pad thai/Then we gon’ sleep till noon.” Presumably in a hotel room in some far-flung location, if “ordinary things” was to be a retroactive clue. And maybe Luna shouldn’t have studied the lyrics to pop music so closely, lest she read too much into something that wasn’t even there, but it was always in her nature to take the content of this genre to heart. To be as overly affected by it as any teen girl. Even though she was presently well past that age bracket. At the same time, does the inner teen girl within ever really go away? For Luna, she was omnipresent—still dictating most of her arbitrary decision-making processes. Maybe the same was true of Grande, who became famous when she was in her teens. And since it is said that one gets stuck at the age when they first gain international (or even national) appeal, it was possible her own take on romance and relationships was just as skewed as her grandmother’s thanks to being perennially trapped in teen girl mode. 

Except that, even though Luna knew Marjorie was being shockingly naive for a ninety-eight-year-old, she couldn’t help but hear those words of hers over and over: “Never go to bed without kissin’ goodnight. That’s the worst thing to do. Don’t ever ever do that. And if you can’t and if you don’t feel comfortable doing it, you’re in the wrong place. Get out.” She heard this every time she got in a fight with her own boyfriend, who wasn’t exactly warm and fuzzy enough to allow for the implementation of Marjorie’s supposedly sound wisdom. In fact, when she did try to kiss him one night before bed after they had gotten into a huge fight earlier that day, he had no trouble dodging her attempt and turning his back to her, scoffing at what a fool she was for thinking he could be “melted” with her unreciprocated display of affection. 

So Marjorie, what if your sig other is simply too entrenched in his own pride to “kiss and make up” right away, but you still think you’re in the so-called right place (as if there really is such a thing)? What’s more, if one is quick to abandon a relationship that’s otherwise “perfect” just because one of the people involved isn’t of the “kissin’ goodnight” philosophy, why should you impose your own views about “relationship bliss” on them? Especially if it causes more discord than harmony. Luna wasn’t trying to say that a woman should go along to get along, but, at the same time, there is such a thing as unnecessarily “poking the bear.” But now, Marjorie had gotten into her head, her non-pop song “lyrics” an earworm that couldn’t be shaken as they played on a loop inside Luna’s fraught mind. 

The song had become like a Jesus Prayer. And it was one that made her doubt everything she thought she had believed regarding her love for Sam. Maybe she should break up with him. Maybe Marjorie was right, and the real reason Luna was so angry with her was because she knew, deep down, that the advice was valid.

Then again, she could always stop listening to the end of “ordinary things”—hell, maybe stop listening to that entire song altogether. But it was no use. Luna always fell prey to listening to the complete track. Almost as if she wanted to torture herself with the “wisdom” she knew she would never take. Because, frankly, her taste in macho types would end up making it so that she would have to break up with pretty much anybody she found herself in a relationship with. This genre of men simply didn’t “gel” with Marjorie’s way of thinking. Luna, on the other hand, did. And she had the bruises all over her body to prove it. After all, love hurts. Which was one message Eternal Sunshine had effectively gotten across.