Saturday Nine: Into You (2016)

This week's Saturday Nine:


(Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.)

1. In this video, Ariana Grande and her boyfriend take off on a motorcycle. Are your trips usually carefully planned? Or would you prefer to just spontaneously get up and go? I guess it depends on how long the trip is. If it's a day trip, I don't really care; it can be more fun to be spontaneous. But if it's a longer trip than that, then they have to be carefully planned. I don't like being unprepared 'cause it makes me more stressed and then I can't enjoy myself. Also, I think having adult responsibilities (e.g. bills to pay, employment, etc.) forces you to carefully plan trips.
   
   
2. As they ride through the desert, they pass several cacti. This makes Sam sad, since she had a potted cactus on her desk and managed to kill it in no time. Do you have luck with house plants? I don't take care of the plants in my house personally, so they are all alive and thriving. But I did attempt to grow a plant when I was a teenager and it died within a couple weeks, so I would say no.
   
   
3. This song mentions the appeal of acting "a little bit scandalous." Tell us about a time you were the subject of gossip. I don't know if anyone really gossips about me now because I keep a pretty low-key profile and don't do anything scandalous, but a few years ago, I used to hang out with a group of guys and I started getting a lot closer with one guy in particular so that might have spawned some gossip.
   
   
4. Ariana's mother is an executive at a company that makes, among other things, alarm systems. Is your home protected by a security system? I live in a gated community so, you know, it's technically protected by a security system even if we leave the door unlocked. I mean, my house is set up with an alarm system, too, but it's never actually been activated. I guess we've never needed to.
   
   
5. Ariana has her own fragrance, "Ari," available at major department stores. When you're at the mall, do you accept the scent strips you're handed? Or do you say, "no, thank you." It's actually pretty rare that I shop in stores that have people handing out scent strips, but I guess it would have to depend on my mood and what's brought me into that store to begin with. Like, am I in a rush? Am I doing targeted shopping or am I browsing? If it's the latter, I might take a strip out of politeness and smell it out of curiosity. But if I'm on a mission, then it's a hard pass.
   
   
6. Ariana has said Mariah Carey is her "favourite human being on the planet" and her biggest musical influence. Who is your favourite female vocalist? I can definitely appreciate a lot of different vocals from a huge variety of genres (like, pop to country to grunge) but I think I'd say Sia. She doesn't have the cleanest or most polished vocals, but her voice has incredible power and control and conveys the emotion of a song to a tee.
   
   
7. A big fan of horror movies, she admits Freddy Krueger of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies was her favourite growing up. Do you like scary movies? No, no, no. I have an overactive imagination as it is, and I don't need anything else overstimulating it. I watched Stephen King's It when I was 11 and had to sleep with my mom for six months.
   
   
8. She had a brief relationship with rapper Big Sean. Do you like rap music? I don't mind it if it's apart of a song, like the collab with B.o.B and Hayley Williams or Eminem with Rihanna, but I just can't get into rap on its own.
   
   
9. Random question: Which kid were you in school — Class Clown, Brain, Jock, Stoner, Cheerleader, Teacher's Pet? None of them, really. I wasn't necessarily a misfit or a wallflower, nor a go-getter like a class president or prefect; I just didn't fit into a high school stereotype. Like, I was really into art, but I wasn't one of those pseudo-depressed misunderstood artists. And I went to an academically competitive school, so my grades couldn't be lacking, but I also wasn't a hardcore nerd. I liked a lot of metal and hardcore punk music but I also played violin in string orchestra. The popularity hierarchy was very different because I didn't go to a co-ed public school, so I think my high school experience was different than most people's.