Sitting in a silent classroom, the only sound that floats through the air are pencils scratching paper. 

My brain functions off sound, and while doing any kind of work including equations and numbers, I need my own source of white noise. At the same time, I usually put my AirPods in and indulge in my favorite podcasts. Still, I decided against it due to my brain jogging a memory that there was a new song out: “Die for You – Remix” featuring Ariana Grande.

This song technically wasn’t new to me, I had never been an avid fan of The Weeknd, therefore never had the desire to analyze his radio music, but when I saw Grande was featured on the song, I thought I’d give it a listen.

So, as I sat in a dreadful math class, searching for something to drown out the taunting equations on the screen before me, I decided it was the perfect time to listen to this new remix.

I had heard Die for You on the radio a couple of times while flipping through channels or scrolling on TikTok it had never captured my attention, until now.

As a fan of Grande’s music and the other song she did with The Weeknd—Save Your Tears—I was intrigued by how this remix would turn out, and I was pleasantly surprised.

The first verse stayed pretty true to the original version of the song, but as the first play of the chorus picked up, there were traces of Grande’s iconic whistle notes and harmonies behind The Weeknd’s voice. As always, Grande’s voice amazes me and I caught my head bobbing along with her vocals.

The second verse picks up and it’s solely Grande’s outstanding voice, though with different lyrics than the original song has. The words Grande sings are in response to the original verse The Weeknd sings in the initial version of the song. I thought this was an interesting touch to add to the remix and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the lyrics from both versions and observing the parallels.

Although I was fascinated by Grande’s version, I was thoroughly disappointed that she didn’t get her own version of the chorus, only the harmonies behind the track. I think Grande singing the melody with The Weeknd’s vocals on harmony would’ve been the perfect adaptation to this remix, but unfortunately, I was let down.

Although I was disappointed by the second version of the chorus, the remix still surpassed my expectations and has been added to my spring and summer playlists.

Grande and The Weeknd have created yet another hit of a remix, and I expect this version of the song will be playing everywhere soon enough, I know for sure that it will be played from my speakers many times in the next few months and will find itself comfortably on a number of my playlists.  

While I doubted the capabilities of this remix, I can definitely say it brought a little bit of joy to an hour full of equations and numbers.