Just Look Up

## Promotional single by Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi

"**Just Look Up**" is a song by Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi, released as a promotional single for the Netflix film, *Don't Look Up*, on December 3, 2021. It begins as a ballad song before narrating a comet about to destroy the planet. The two performed it on *The Voice* in its finale.

## Composition

Producer Nicholas Britell told *The Wrap* that he read the film's draft script and talked with director Adam McKay for awhile. He had a melody in mind and played it for McKay on the piano. This followed by sharing it to Grande, who immediately "laid down the entire vocal top line of the song with no lyrics, just improvising this whole thing." Next, Taura Stinson was tasked with creating the lyrics. She said, "It's a time capsule kind of song. You can take it as pollution or climate change or the vaccine [...] It resonated with me deeply, just the idea that our world could just end because, essentially, for so many people, that's what happened last year. COVID was the meteor." Britell added, "It was such a tricky thing to pull off. It has to be a sincere love song, and it has to really feel like a good song. This is a comedy, but the song isn't a joke song—it's a sincere, real song that happens to express this absurd explanation of what is happening. I was wondering how we were going to do that—but when she sent the lyrics over, I was literally like, 'Oh, that's how we do it.'"

## Lyrics

**Lyrics**
[Intro: Ariana Grande]

Mm-mm, hmm

Ah, ah

[Verse 1: Ariana Grande]

We knew no bounds

Fell at the speed of sound

Ridin' against all odds, but soon against ourselves

You haunted every memory

With no goodbyes, all bad for me

Your pride put out the fire in our flames

[Pre-Chorus: Ariana Grande]

Then just one look is all it takes

I feel your eyes, they're locked on every part of me

And then my dumb heart says

[Chorus: Ariana Grande]

Just look up

There is no place to hide

True love doesn't die

It holds on tight and never lets you go

Just look up

You cannot deny the signs

What you've waited for

Don't wait no more

It's right up above you

Just look up

[Verse 2: Kid Cudi, *Ariana Grande*]

(Baby)

Know I let you down, a n\*\*\*a can't deny it (Uh-huh)

And there's so much I could lose and, yes, that matters (Yeah)

I've been dealin' with madness (Yo)

Wasn't the man you needed (Hmm)

You dealin' with sadness, truthfully, it's all on me (Hmm)

And I'm sorry, my love

I'ma heal your heart, I'll hold it in my hand (*Ooh, ah-ah*)

Time is oh so precious, we don't really have much left now (*Ooh*)

Take my hand, baby, never leave you, Riley

[Verse 3: Ariana Grande]

Look up, what he's really trying to say

Is get your head out of your ass

Listen to the goddamn qualified scientists

We really fucked it up, fucked it up this time

It's so close, I can feel the heat big time

And you can act like everything is alright

But this is probably happening in real time

Celebrate or cry or pray, whatever it takes

To get you through the mess that we made

'Cause tomorrow may never come

[Chorus: Ariana Grande]

Just look up

Turn off that shit Box News

'Cause you're about to die soon everybody

Ooh, I, I, oh, I

Look up

Here it comes

I'm so glad I'm here with you forever

In your arms

## Gallery

Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi - Just Look Up (Live on The Voice)
## References

1. ↑ Peters, Mitchell (December 5, 2021). "Fans Choose Ariana Grande & Kid Cudi's 'Just Look Up' as This Week's Favorite New Music". *Billboard*.
2. ↑ Wang, Lydia (December 16, 2021). "Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi Performed "Just Look Up" on 'The Voice'". *Netflix*.
3. ↑ Pond, Steve (December 10, 2021). "How Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi and Team Wrote a Love Song for the End of the World in 'Don't Look Up'". *The Wrap*.