Ariana Grande’s “God Is a Woman” could have had a completely different history. Producer Ilya Salmanzadeh has revealed that the 2018 hit was once considered for Beyoncé and JAY-Z before Grande made it her own, rejecting the idea of sharing the track with a rapper and writing the verses, pre-chorus and layered vocal harmonies in a single studio day, reshaping the song completely.

Ariana Grande heard “God Is a Woman” after the song had already gone through several creative stages, but her reaction changed its direction immediately. According to producer and songwriter Ilya Salmanzadeh, the original idea was for Grande to sing the chorus while another artist, possibly a rapper, handled a separate section. She wanted something else: the full song for herself.

Ilya shared the story during an episode of the “And the Writer Is…” podcast with Ross Golan, released on October 13, 2026. The conversation looked back at his long working relationship with Grande and revealed new details about how one of the defining songs from “Sweetener” reached its final form.

The most unexpected part of the story involves Beyoncé and JAY-Z. Ilya said the track had previously been considered for the couple at a time when they were preparing music together. The idea did not move forward, and he did not suggest that either artist recorded a finished version or that an agreed release was later cancelled.

That distinction matters because songs often move through different hands before finding the right performer. In this case, “God Is a Woman” was part of that normal creative process rather than a completed Beyoncé and JAY-Z recording that was reassigned. Ilya’s account simply shows that the song had more than one possible destination before Grande took control of it.

The timing is especially interesting. Beyoncé and JAY-Z released their joint album “Everything Is Love” under the name The Carters in June 2018, just weeks before “God Is a Woman” arrived as an Ariana Grande single on July 13. The two projects were developing during the same broader period, even though the song ultimately followed a different route.

Ilya also made clear that Grande had been on his mind during the process. By then, they already had a strong creative history together, with collaborations including “Problem,” “Into You” and “No Tears Left to Cry.” That familiarity gave him a good sense of how she could reshape a melody and build detailed vocal arrangements around it.

When Grande heard the song, the first suggestion was still to keep the chorus for her and leave room for another artist elsewhere in the track. Her response was direct. As Ilya remembers it, she essentially said they should write the whole thing for her instead.

That decision became the turning point. Ariana Grande then wrote the verses, the pre-chorus and the vocal harmonies that became central to the finished recording. According to Ilya, she completed that work in a single day, transforming the song from a possible collaboration into a solo performance built around her own voice.

The producer’s account also gives more weight to Ariana Grande’s role as a writer. “God Is a Woman” was not simply delivered to her as a finished composition that only needed vocals. Her work shaped the sections that connect the chorus to the rest of the song and helped determine how the track would build from beginning to end.

The harmonies are one of the clearest examples. Multiple layers of Ariana Grande’s voice are stacked through the final recording, giving the song a dense, almost choral quality without losing the intimacy of the lead vocal. That approach becomes especially important in the closing section, where the arrangement grows through repeated vocal lines rather than a guest verse.

Removing the rapper idea also changed the balance of the song. Instead of splitting its identity between two performers, the finished version became entirely focused on Grande’s phrasing, tone and control. The structure feels unified because every section leads back to the same voice and the same perspective.

“God Is a Woman” later became one of the key tracks on “Sweetener,” Ariana Grande’s fourth studio album. Musically, it combines pop and R&B elements with a relatively controlled production, leaving space for rhythm, melody and vocal detail rather than relying on a huge instrumental arrangement.

The lyrics center on desire, confidence and female power. The religious image in the title works as a metaphor, connecting femininity with authority and attraction. That idea remained central in the final version and became even more visible in the way the song was presented visually.

Dave Meyers directed the official music video, which placed Ariana Grande inside a series of highly stylized scenes filled with cosmic imagery, references to classical art and symbolic visual effects. Madonna also appears through a brief spoken contribution, adding another major pop figure to the project without changing the song’s solo identity.

The single performed strongly after release. It reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and later earned a four-times platinum certification in the United States from the RIAA. Over time, it became one of the songs most closely connected with the “Sweetener” period and with Ariana Grande’s shift toward a more confident visual and musical style.

The new comments from Ilya are useful because they show how unfinished the song still was before Ariana Grande stepped in. Even major pop songs can spend time as demos, pitches or possible collaborations before someone makes the creative decision that locks the final version into place.

Over the years, demo recordings linked to Camila Cabello and Rita Ora have also appeared online. Those versions belong to earlier stages of the song’s development and help show how flexible the material once was, but they do not prove that Beyoncé ever recorded an official version.

Ariana Grande’s contribution is therefore the clearest turning point in the story. She heard a song that could have remained a shared project, decided she wanted it as a solo track and then wrote the parts needed to support that decision. The result was not just a change of singer, but a change in structure and identity.

There is another Beyoncé connection elsewhere on “Sweetener,” although it belongs to a separate creative path. “R.E.M.” developed from earlier Pharrell Williams material that had also moved through versions connected to different artists, including Beyoncé, and had previously been associated with a song called “Dream” that was offered to T-Pain.

That history should not be mixed with “God Is a Woman.” The two songs reached Ariana Grande through different routes, even if both reflect the way pop material can change shape before release. In each case, the final recording became closely identified with her once the songs entered her own album world.

During the podcast, Ilya also spoke more broadly about working with Max Martin and the Stockholm songwriting circle, where songs are often developed through several sessions and different creative combinations. His story about Grande fits that process while also showing how decisive an artist can be once the right song reaches the right room.

For Ilya, the memory that remains strongest is not simply that the track had once been discussed for other stars. It is the speed with which Grande heard the idea, claimed the direction and completed the missing vocal sections. That studio day turned a flexible song concept into the version listeners have known since 2018.

Eight years later, “God Is a Woman” still sounds inseparable from Grande because so much of its final character came from that decision. The Beyoncé and JAY-Z connection is a fascinating part of its early history, but the finished record belongs to the moment Grande chose to build the entire song around herself.