Who Is The Man Sampled On Ariana Grande’s ‘The Light Is Coming’?

20 June 2018, 11:00 | Updated: 20 June 2018, 11:58

Ariana Grande The Light Is Coming Sample Voice
Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

By Katie Louise Smith

The song samples the words: "You wouldn't let anybody speak and instead..." but who's voice is saying it?

After an intense Twitter countdown, unofficial UK Prime Minister Ariana Grande just dropped the second single from her upcoming fourth album Sweetener (released on August 17) called 'The Light Is Coming'. It's already a certified bop but there's one part of the song that's been driving everyone CRAZY - the spoken word sample of a man's voice that repeats throughout the entire track.

The sample on the song says: "You wouldn't let anybody speak and instead..." but who's voice is it?

While it's not a new thing, there's definitely been an epidemic of spoken word samples hitting some of the biggest tracks in music over the past couple of years. Beyoncé did it with both 'Flawless' (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) and 'Formation' (Big Freedia), Jay-Z and Kanye did it with Blades of Glory on 'Paris', Drake's done it... and now, Ariana has done it too.

Many fans on Twitter believed the soundbite to be the voice of Gilbert Gottfried, a stand up comedian who bares a striking comedic resemblance to Ariana's fiancé Pete Davidson (👀) but, thanks to MTV's Madeline Roth, it's been sleuthed that the voice is actually that of a man shouting at Senator Arlen Specter at a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania in 2009.

The song was produced by Pharrell Williams, who also sampled the same town hall meeting in N.E.R.D. ft Rihanna's 'Lemon'. Remember that "Wait a minute!" soundbite that was scattered throughout the song? That's Specter's voice from the same CNN clip.

No one quite knows why Pharrell chose to sample that particular moment on the track but we're going with it. The same can't be said for some of the fandom though... people are complaining that the repetitive nature of the sample is annoying AF.

Sorry but 'The Light Is Coming' is a bop. Don't like the sample? You'll get over it.

via GIPHY