Ariana Grande’s new short film includes movie references to ‘X-Men’ and ‘Minority Report.’ Here’s every detail you may have missed.

Ariana Grande released the “Brighter Days Ahead” short film on March 28, 2025.

Ariana Grande released “Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead” on Friday, an extended version of her Grammy-nominated seventh studio album.

Grande has described “Eternal Sunshine” as a concept album, drawing liberally from Michel Gondry’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” The 2004 sci-fi film stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as ill-matched lovers who decide to erase their memories of each other, arguably dooming themselves to a never-ending loop of heartbreak.

The deluxe edition’s arrival was paired with a short film, co-directed by Grande and Christian Breslauer, who previously helmed the visual for “Yes, And?”

Much like the album itself, “Brighter Days Ahead” is thematically and aesthetically influenced by Gondry’s cult classic — as well as other significant moments in cinema.

Keep reading for the key references and details we found.

Grande’s character is called Peaches, a reference to Winslet’s character in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”

Ariana Grande plays Peaches in the “Brighter Days Ahead” short film.

Grande’s fans first met Peaches in the music video for “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love),” which premiered last March.

The character’s fruity name is a clear nod to Clementine, the impulsive yet lovable heroine from “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” who is portrayed by Winslet.

“We Can’t Be Friends” shows Peaches arriving at Brighter Days, Inc. for a futuristic memory-erasure procedure. (In Gondry’s film, the clinic is called Lacuna, Inc., a word that means “a blank space or a missing part,” according to Merriam-Webster.)

Grande’s new short film picks up 70 years after the events of “We Can’t Be Friends.”

“Now, she finds herself once again in the waiting room of Brighter Days Inc., but this time for a very different appointment,” the video’s description reads. “The company now offers advanced memory restoration, allowing her to revisit a curated selection of moments from her life — both cherished and painful.”

In the opening scene, we can see that Grande’s signature hand tattoos have become faded and blotchy with time.

Peaches uses a machine to revisit four past memories, which play out like a series of mini music videos.

The memory-recovery machine in “Brighter Days Ahead.”

The short film features six songs from “Eternal Sunshine.”

“Intro (End of the World),” “Eternal Sunshine,” and “Supernatural” were all included on the album’s standard edition, while “Dandelion,” “Twilight Zone,” and “Hampstead” are deluxe tracks.

The memory machine bears an uncanny resemblance to Cerebro from the “X-Men” franchise.

Patrick Stewart plays Professor Charles Xavier in “X-Men” (2000). 

Cerebro is a supercomputer that amplifies the telepathic powers of Professor Charles Xavier, played by Patrick Stewart in the original “X-Men” trilogy.

Perhaps Grande is lobbying for a role in the newly expanded MCU?

The machine’s design also evokes Steven Spielberg’s 2002 sci-fi film “Minority Report.”

“Brighter Days Ahead” vs. “Minority Report.”

The futuristic action flick “Minority Report” stars Tom Cruise as Chief John Anderton. His police department, Precrime, is tasked with analyzing psychic premonitions, which they use to catch would-be killers before they commit premeditated murders.

The memory machine depicted in Grande’s short film resembles the technology in “Minority Report,” especially the spheres where Peaches’ memories are stored.

The “Brighter Days Ahead” credits seem to confirm this parallel; they include a line that reads “Additional Thanks to Universal Studios, Steven Spielberg,” the director of “Minority Report.”

Even before her Oscar-nominated turn as Glinda in “Wicked,” Grande was no stranger to referencing movies in her work. She previously included nods to “Catwoman” in “The Boy Is Mine” (2024) and “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” in “34+35” (2020).

Most famously, Grande’s 2018 “Thank U, Next” video paid homage to a handful of female-led rom-coms: “Mean Girls,” “Legally Blonde,” “13 Going on 30,” and “Bring It On.” When she performed the hit song on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” with cowriters Victoria Monét and Tayla Parx, they reenacted the iconic final scene from “The First Wives Club.”

Grande used a similar looping machine for a live performance of “Positions.”

Ariana Grande performing “Eternal Sunshine” in 2025 and “Positions” in 2021.

Following the release of “Positions” in 2020, Grande collaborated with Vevo to produce a series of live performances of songs from the album.

To kick off her performance of the title track, Grande used a looping machine to stack her vocals and harmonies — almost identical to the one she uses in “Brighter Days Ahead” to perform the “Eternal Sunshine” title track.

“That was one of the first instruments she had as a child, and she would loop her vocals to make songs up,” Vevo exec Ed Walker told B-17 “She told us this story on set, about how it was crazy because she hadn’t used one of those loopers in like, 10 years. She got one in the studio and she just used it and then she was like, ‘Right, we’re starting the song with this.’ It took her back to being in her bedroom.”

Grande has also said she “fell in love” with using looping machines after watching Imogen Heap perform at a young age.

Grande’s real dad, Ed Butera, plays a Frankenstein-like version of her dad in the film.

Ed Butera in the “Brighter Days Ahead” short film.

The final segment of the short film is a black-and-white music video for “Hampstead,” the final track on the deluxe album.

Grande’s dad, Ed Butera, plays a doctor who literally stitches his daughter’s body back together. He finds her still-beating heart in a tavern and her brain in a pile of junk, echoing the song’s lyrics: “I left my heart at a pub in Hampstead / And I misplaced my mind in a good way.”

In the end, the doctor is able to resurrect his daughter by playing a song for her on his piano.