“Motive” features a thematic link with “the way I Look for you.”
The premise with this track — Grande asking a possible significant other, ” What’s your motive?” — is like an expansion of “the way I Look on You,” one of Grande’s solamente tracks from her curated “Charlie’s Angels” soundtrack.
The track defines Grande’s distrust in a fresh relationship, along with her suspicion which he’s just dating her for popularity: “we made that you thing, like, ‘Who’s that guy?’ / Say you ain’t for. in it for the spotlight, boy / I don’t believe no one no more / Boy, show me what you’re in it”