“Hate That I Made You Love Me” as Nikki Freeman From Obsession’s Theme Song

From the dawn of literature as we know it (which is arguably what people consider to be Epic of Gilgamesh), obsession has been a driving force behind many (and most) characters’ actions. In Curry Barker’s second feature, called none other than Obsession, the title itself goes to show just how much that still holds true today in modern storytelling. And while there are many things to be “obsessed” with (money, power, glory—as Lana Del Rey would point out), love generally remains at the top of the list. Or rather, what is thought to be love, but is, more often than not, just pure obsession based on lust, carnal desire and, worse still, the desire to “possess.”

This is something Ariana Grande also knows only too well about, as her latest single, “Hate That I Made You Love Me,” has reemphasized. And, whether the song is from the standpoint of addressing a jilted ex or the standpoint that posits Grande is referring to the masses she “made” love her (ergo allowing her to be as famous as she is), it’s something that Obsession’s Nikki Freeman (Inde Navarrette) can most certainly relate to.

In fact, “Hate That I Made You Love Me” feels as if it could have been written expressly as a song for the Obsession Soundtrack (like Taylor Swift writing “I Knew It, I Knew You” for Toy Story 5)—not to mention being a more well-aligned film reference to use in Grande’s accompanying video for the song. In any case, if the Obsession Soundtrack was more willing to lean into having songs with 1) words and 2) a sardonic sense of humor, “Hate That I Made You Love Me” would be a shoo-in. After all, there’s no denying that Nikki would be of the same mind as Grande when she sings, “Hate that I made you love me/Sorry if I made me your type/Yeah, I, I hate that I made you love me/‘Cause I barely tried.”

In fact, one could argue that Nikki did everything she could not to try to make Baron “Bear” Bailey (Michael Johnston) fall in love with her. For all the information presented in Obsession indicates that Nikki had strictly friend-zoned him. Starting from the moment the audience sees their initial interaction via phone (with Nikki still offscreen at this point) and gleans from her tone that she definitely views Bear as more of a “gal pal” than potential romantic interest—or even “fuck buddy.” That becomes even more obvious when, after talking him into coming to the bar that night (though going out was the last thing he wanted to do after coming home to discover his cat overdosed on his own supply of oxycodone), Nikki makes fun of him for ordering a piña colada as his drink of choice, ribbing, “I like a man who’s in touch with his feminine side.” Needless to say, she doesn’t much respect him (nor does she have a very evolved sense of what it means to be a “man”—instead mirroring what many men themselves still think they should be: “hyper-masculine”).

And yet, she still “keeps him around” as her “Dawson,” of sorts—minus the part where she has any kind of Joey Potter sentiment. Whether or not Grande is this way with the men she attracts (and doesn’t actually end up with à la Ethan Slater) is irrelevant. Because she still managed to write a song that was tailor-made for Nikki Freeman unwantingly “invoking” the love—“the aggressive, sticky maternal love!” as Marcello in La Dolce Vita would put it—of somebody she would very much regret ever getting close to (or rather, allowing to get close to her). Whether as “just a friend” or otherwise. Though it might have been “kind” of her to offer Bear her friendship when she knew, more than somewhere deep down, that he had (or was going to have) a “thing” for her.

Little did she know, he would turn out to be like every other asshole guy despite his “nice” façade. But, of course, it’s no coincidence that Barker named him “Bear”—an undoubted allusion to the “man or bear” (as in, “Would you rather be stuck in a forest with a man or a bear?”) debate that went viral on social media in 2024. In Nikki’s case, obviously, she, too would have preferred a bear—not Bear (and technically kind of did via her little dalliance on the side with Bear’s gnarlier friend, Ian [Cooper Tomlinson]). Alas, by the time she figures out that Bear’s “sugary sweetness” with her is about to render her into “a bee stuck in honey,” as Grande phrases it in her single, it’s too late and she no longer even has any agency over her own body.

This is also part of why a lyric like, “You studied my crown/And borrowed my body” is only too apropos (and almost eerie) in its resonance for Nikki. As it is for Grande to say, “I can see right through/Like shadows on the moon/And it’s all bad news.” Because there was likely a subconscious reason that Nikki chose to friend-zone Bear rather than leaning into some kind of romance with him. And then, lo and behold, look at what he did to her out of his own selfishness. His own inability to deal with the potential fallout of her returning his professed affections with a “hell no.”

Fortunately (even despite all the hell that Nikki went through in being possessed by this wish), Nikki does break free from the proverbial spell that Bear put on her. Proving Grande correct when she assures her listener, “Just know that I will find my way from you/Like flowers from a tomb.” Even if, in doing so, Nikki is most definitely going to be charged with three counts of homicide for crimes she didn’t even commit (this being confirmed by Inde Navarrette herself in mentioning an “Easter egg” that will be in Barker’s next movie, Anything But Ghosts). Yet another classic case of a man fucking over a woman…and usually just because he wants to fuck her and she’s not interested.