“I’m such a fan” — Ariana Grande gushes over Penn Badgley as she confirms the ‘Gossip Girl’ actor will star in ‘The Boy Is Mine’ mv

Love Me Harder hitmaker Ariana Grande confirmed that Gossip Girl Penn Badgley was going to star in the music video for her track The Boy Is Mine. During an appearence on the Thursday, June 6 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the singer revealed that she had been a fan of Badgley for her entire life. Grande said:

"It was so amazing to work with him (Penn Badgley). I’m such a fan. It was so fun."

As per Billboard, the video, which was released on Friday, June 7, is directed by Christian Breslauer, who most notably directed the music video for Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow's 2021 hit track Industry Baby.

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Ariana Grande plays Penn Badgley's stalker in her latest music video

During Thursday's episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Ariana Grande told host Jimmy Fallon that Penn Badgley was going to play the lead in her new music video for The Boy Is Mine. This indeed held true, as Badgley was seen playing Grande's lover in the video that was released on Friday. The singer told Jimmy Fallon:

"The video stars Penn Badgley, who I’ve been a fan of my entire life."

The track is the seventh single from Ariana Grande's latest album, Eternal Sunshine. Grande also gave an electric performance of the track live on the episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

The official music video of the track, which lasts just over 6 minutes, features a small cameo from Monica and Brandy, who sang the 1998 track The Boy Is Mine, which inspired Grande's version. The video features the duo as news reporters who inform the public of a rat crisis in the fictional city.

Penn Badgley plays the role of the city's mayor, Max Starling, who tries to tackle the "insidious" rat infestation by gathering the city's overflow of stray cats and releasing them into the streets. Ariana Grande's character, who creates a love potion for the mayor, mentions at the beginning of the video that Starling is "f**king brilliant" and "so hot."

In the video, the singer's house is filled with posters and paintings of Badgley. Midway through the video, Grande's character stitches up a custom-made Catwoman costume complete with a whip and quite intensely stalks the mayor at his house before revealing herself on his bed. The chorus to the track goes:

"The boy is mine/ I can't wait to try him/ Le-let's get intertwined/ The stars, they aligned/ The boy is mine/ Watch me take my time/ I can't believe my mind/ The boy is divine/ Boy is mine"

Penn Badgley is not the first big name that Ariana Grande has gotten to star in her music videos. Back in March, Grande released the music video for We Can't Be Friends, which starred Evan Peters of Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story fame. She has also previously worked with Riverdale star Charles Melton and her Victorious co-star Matt Bennett.

Penn Badgley currently stars as Joe Goldberg, a bookstore manager/serial killer, in the hit Netflix series You. The show, which premiered in 2018, ran for four seasons before announcing its fifth and final season, which will air on the streaming platform later this year. The series also stars The Haunting of Hill House star Victoria Pedretti, Countdown actor Elizabeth Lail, and Jenna Ortega of Wednesday fame.

Despite the success of You, Penn Badgley first burst into the scene as the knowledgeable, charming, and hard-working yet manipulative Dan Humphrey from The CW's hit show Gossip Girl. In the show, Badgley had an on-and-off relationship with Blake Lively's Serena van der Woodsen. Gossip Girl is currently available to stream on Netflix for international audiences.