Fans Think Ariana Grande Honored Late Ex Mac Miller on Positions with the Sound of Crickets

A TikTok user pointed out that the crickets heard on two of Ariana Grande's Positions tracks are likely a reference to Mac Miller's song "Crickets"

Mac Miller, Ariana Grande
Mac Miller and Ariana Grande. Photo: GC Images

Ariana Grande's loyal Arianators are pointing out the subtle ways she might have honored late ex-boyfriend Mac Miller — who died from an accidental overdose at the age of 26 in 2018 — on her latest album, Positions.

In a TikTok video posted earlier this month, fan Maralee Bell theorized that the star's inclusion of cricket sounds when she sings the word "heaven" on at least two songs on the album is likely a nod to Miller's song "Crickets," which was released posthumously earlier this year.

On "Positions," the album's title track, crickets can be heard as Grande, 27, sings the first line, "Heaven sent you to me." They can then be heard again on the fourth track on the album, "Just Like Magic," after she sings, "Take my pen and write some love letters to heaven."

"I think that she kind of thinks of him as her guardian angel and is thanking him for keeping a loving eye on her," Bell said in her TikTok video.

Fans quickly reacted to the potential reference on Twitter, with one writing, "it's crickets chirping at the beginning of positions and middle of just like magic. Mac Miller had a song named crickets. Ariana Grande deserves everything."

Another fan wrote: "i just found out that in ariana's new album she plays cricket noises every time a line has the word heaven which is a tribute to mac miller's song crickets bc she thinks of him as her guardian angel watching over her from heaven. i am not okay no one talk to me for the next week."

Fans previously speculated that Grande's duet with The Weeknd, "Off the Table," on Positions might be about Miller, whom she dated for two years.

"Will I ever love the same way again?/Will I ever love somebody like the way I did you?/Never thought you'd be so damn hard to replace/[...]If I can't have you, is love completely off the table?" she begins the song.

Positions wouldn't be the first time Grande has honored Miller's memory on an album. On the title track of her hit 2019 album, thank u, next, she included a clear nod to her ex as she sang, "Wish I could say thank you to Malcolm/'Cause he was an angel."

RELATED VIDEO: Pete Davidson Says He Knew His Engagement to Ariana Grande Was 'Over' After Mac Miller's Death

Her thank u, next song "Ghostin" is widely assumed to be about Miller. "Though I wish he were here instead/Don't want that living in your head/He just comes to visit me/When I'm dreaming every now and then," Grande sings, likely in reference to how she was never able to let go of Miller, even when she was still with ex-fiancé Pete Davidson.

Fans also guessed that the thank, u next song "Imagine" might be about Miller as the rapper had the word tattooed on his arm. When Grande tweeted about the meaning of the song, she wrote that it's "kind of like... pretending it never ended. denial."

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Mac Miller and Ariana Grande. Ariana Grande/Instagram

In 2019, Grande opened up to Vogue about her "all-consuming" grief over Miller's death.

"By no means was what we had perfect, but, like, f—," she told the magazine. "He was the best person ever, and he didn't deserve the demons he had. I was the glue for such a long time, and I found myself becoming … less and less sticky. The pieces just started to float away."

Positions, Grande's sixth studio album, was released Oct. 30, more than a year after her record-breaking album thank u, next, which debuted in February 2019.

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