Honestly, if you ask a casual listener about the Dangerous Woman era, they’ll probably hum "Side to Side" or maybe the title track. But the real ones? The fans who’ve been there since the Moonlight snippets? They know the crown jewel of that record is actually a deep cut called Touch It.
It’s a song that shouldn't work as well as it does.
Musically, it's this massive, dark, synth-heavy behemoth. It sounds like something out of a futuristic noir film, yet it’s tucked away at track 13 on a pop album from 2016. What’s even weirder is how Ariana herself feels about it. You’d think an artist would love one of their most technically impressive tracks. Not exactly.
The Song Ariana Loves to Hate
It’s sort of a "don't meet your heroes" situation for Arianators. During a Q&A on her Sweetener World Tour, she straight-up called Touch It "boring."
Yeah. Boring.
She even mentioned she prefers "Borderline" from the Sweetener album—a take that had the fandom in a total tailspin on Twitter. For her, it might just be the repetition or the fact that it doesn't fit her current "vibe." But for the people listening, that chorus is anything but dull.
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The production, handled by the legendary Max Martin and Ali Payami, is dense. When that bass hits in the chorus, it’s thick. It has this industrial, almost SOPHIE-esque edge that was way ahead of its time for mainstream pop.
Why the Fans Disagree
- The Vocal Range: She hits some of her most satisfying, resonant notes in the bridge.
- The Atmospheric Build: It starts small and ends like a sonic explosion.
- The Live Experience: If you saw the Dangerous Woman Tour, you know. The stage projections and the way she stood on that elevated platform made it feel like a religious experience for the 20,000 people in the arena.
That Time She Became a Video Game Character
You can't talk about Touch It without mentioning the weirdest crossover of 2017: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.
Square Enix basically turned Ariana into a playable character named "Dangerous Ariana." To celebrate, they didn't just use the album version of the song. They commissioned a full-blown orchestral remix.
Recorded with a live orchestra, the Final Fantasy version of Touch It is arguably even better than the original. It strips away some of the 808s and replaces them with soaring strings and cinematic percussion. It’s grand. It’s dramatic. It’s exactly what you want to hear while you're fighting a pixelated boss in a mobile RPG.
The Mystery of the Missing Music Video
For years, rumors swirled that a music video for Touch It existed.
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Fans pointed to certain outfits and sets that didn't seem to belong to "Into You" or "Everyday." Ultimately, we never got a standalone official video. Instead, the song lived its life as a tour highlight and a fan-favorite "sleeper hit."
Is it because it was too dark? Maybe. Ariana was pivoting toward a more R&B-focused sound by the time her next era started, and the "heavy synth-pop" of Touch It didn't quite fit the Sweetener aesthetic.
The Technical Breakdown (Sorta)
The song sits in a minor key, which is why it feels so "moody" compared to something like "Greedy."
It deals with the tension of a new relationship—that specific anxiety where you're not sure if the other person is all-in, but you’re already in the "zone."
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Ariana Grande Touch It isn't just a pop song; it’s a masterclass in tension and release. The way she holds back in the verses, almost whispering, only to let the vocals soar over the crashing production in the final chorus? That’s why people still talk about it nearly a decade later.
How to Truly Experience Touch It Today
If you really want to understand why this song has such a cult following, don't just stream it on your phone speakers.
- Listen to the Live Version: Search for the Madison Square Garden performance from 2017. The note changes she does live are legendary.
- Find the Final Fantasy Remix: It’s on YouTube. The orchestral arrangement gives the lyrics a completely different, almost tragic weight.
- Check the Stems: If you're a music nerd, the vocal stems for this track are floating around. Hearing her raw harmonies without the heavy bass reveals just how much work went into the vocal layering.
Despite what the singer herself might think, Touch It remains one of the most sophisticated moments in her discography. It’s the bridge between the "child star" Ariana and the "vocal powerhouse" Ariana we see today.
Keep it on your "late-night drive" playlist. It’s where it belongs.