R.E.M.‘s Mike Mills has light-heartedly called out Ariana Grande on his new supergroup’s track ‘My Cologne’.
The first single from his recently-formed supergroup Howl Owl Howl sees him joined by Hootie and the Blowfish’s Darius Rucker and the Black Crowes’ Steve Gorman to poke fun at the pop star’s choice to name her beauty and fragrance brand R.E.M.
“Ariana Grande put out a record not long ago, and her first single was called ‘R.E.M.,” he said in a new Instagram video. “It’s the dream stage of sleep, that’s where we got it. It’s universal. That’s fine.
“And she put out a line of perfume called R.E.M. I said, ‘Well, okay, that’s okay’. And one of the containers for her perfume was a cassette, I mean, literally a cassette, and it said R.E.M. on it. And then I said, OK, that’s going over the line. I gotta say something about that.”
Mills, reiterating that the upset was all in jest, said: “I thought it was just funny, so we made a song called ‘My Cologne.’ The chorus line is, ‘I want to smell like Ariana Grande, and I think she wants you to smell like me.’ It’s all in good fun, and I hope she likes it.”
The formation of Howl Owl Howl was officially announced last month, and the group have just started sharing music. They have yet to announce a release date for their debut album, but ‘My Cologne’ marks their first musical offering to listeners as a band.
As for Grande, it was recently announced that she would be joining the cast of the upcoming 13th season of American Horror Story.
It will represent the latest major acting project for Grande, who is also set to star in the sequel Wicked: For Good on November 21, the follow-up to 2024’s Wicked, and she also appeared in the 2021 eco-satire Don’t Look Up.
Earlier this year, she reassured fans that she will not be “abandoning” her music career in favour of acting. “Very silly of you all to assume that just because I have my hands full with many things that I plan to abandon singing and music…!!” she wrote.
“It is and always has been my lifeline. There will need to be room made for all of it. It may not look exactly like it did before but I much prefer how it looks in my head. I am having fun. I feel grateful and excited and inspired :)”
In other Ariana Grande news, next summer she’s set to embark on her ‘Eternal Sunshine’ tour, which will mark her first return to the stage in six years, following her 2019 ‘Sweetener’ trek. See a full list of dates here.
The upcoming tour also follows her turning her sights over to acting lately – taking on the leading role in last year’s acclaimed Wicked adaptation and its forthcoming sequel Wicked: For Good.
She has rarely played live since she completed her huge 2019 tour, only making a handful of appearances at non-profit events and award shows. She did reassure fans, however, saying that she wasn’t “abandoning” music and was looking into a number of live shows for 2026.
In a four-star review of ‘Eternal Sunshine’, Nick Levine wrote for NME: “It’s the most sophisticated project yet from a preternaturally talented vocalist who keeps getting better. Whatever you take away from it, ‘Eternal Sunshine’ definitely isn’t an album you’ll want to wipe from memory.”
English (US) · 