In October 2015, Grande released "Focus" as the intended lead single from her third studio album, titled Moonlight at the time.

[3] Positioned by Grande as the perfect transition from her previous record to the new one, the song debuted in the top ten on various charts worldwide but received a mixed reception from critics, who felt it was too similar to her 2014 hit "Problem".

[8] On March 10, 2016, Grande premiered a one-minute preview during CBS' Victoria's Secret Swim Special, before finally releasing "Dangerous Woman" for digital download the next day.

[11] "Dangerous Woman" was written and produced by Johan Carlsson and Ross Golan, with additional writing from Max Martin.

[12] In an interview with CBS This Morning, Golan revealed that the song was originally written with Carrie Underwood in mind, and was also pitched to Alicia Keys and Rihanna.

[15][20] It was described by Brennan Carley from Spin as a "woozy, big-band piece of moody R&B, one that "falls neatly at the intersection of bubblegum and rock and roll",[18] The song is written in the key of E minor, while its tempo swings at a rate of 67 beats per minute in a compound duple 68 time.

[16][25] Although not officially credited as a composer for the music, American singer Charlie Puth can be heard beatboxing in the background of the track.

Carolyn Menyes of Music Times complimented the song's time signature for adding "a bit of a waltz flavor, channeling the old school Ariana that fans first fell in love with", adding that "a sultry, distorted guitar line and Grande's passionate, soaring vocals add a sense of texture and modernity that makes 'Dangerous Woman' feel as powerful as the title.

"[34] Writing for Idolator, Robbie Daw, Carl Williot and Mike Wass reviewed "Dangerous Woman" during their "Pop Perspective" article, with Daw calling it "one walk of danger worth taking", Williot praising her vocal performance and highlighting the "clever little flip of '(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman'", and Wass naming it a "decent song" but noting that "[she] still hasn't found her own lane.

"[16] Lewis Corner from Digital Spy praised Grande's vocals, describing as "angelic" and completed writing it "almost sound too pure over the seductive guitar line and prowling beat, which threatens to blindfold you and tie up your wrists within one listen.".

"[32] Quinn Maryland of Pitchfork shared similar opinion, the reviewer described it as "a slinky, empowered, Bond theme of a belter;"[35] Brennan Carley of Spin opined that "without a doubt, the most mature piece of music she's released to date.

[36] Vulture.com's Sean Fitz-Gerald expressed that "Dangerous Woman" "flaunts the pop star's vocal control, starting out as a seductive whisper and slowly swelling into a heavy, swaying ear worm".

[37] Writing for AXS, Lucas Villa compared the song to The Weeknd's 2014 single "Earned It", saying that Grande "embrace[s] her grown woman side."

"[22] Maeve McDermott of USA Today considered it "her own version of a slinky Bond theme",[38] while Jessie Morris of Complex called it "enchanting".

"[40] Rolling Stone wrote that "the thrush-size diva with the five-alarm vocal power knocks out a sumptuously bluesy ode to her own awesomely lethal ladyhood.

"[41] The magazine also named "Dangerous Woman" one of the thirty best songs of the first half of 2016: "This sultry, clever, bluesy stalk is full of unlikely patterns and pitch jumps, not to mention a guitar solo that explodes into Nintendo pixels and a vocodered outro.

"[25] In the United States, "Dangerous Woman" debuted at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 issue dated April 2, 2016, selling 118,000 digital downloads.

[42] "Dangerous Woman" spent twenty weeks in the Hot 100's top forty, dropping to the closing positions starting with August 8, 2016.

[51] Grande provided her first televised performance of "Dangerous Woman" when she served as both host and musical guest on the March 12, 2016 episode of Saturday Night Live along with "Be Alright".

[52] She also sang the track as a special guest for Nicki Minaj's concert at the T-Mobile Arena on April 8, 2016,[53] and performed the single at the 2016 MTV Movie Awards with Jason Robert Brown, the Tony-winning composer behind Grande's Broadway debut in the musical 13 in 2008.

The video shows Grande performing the entire song a capella in front of a beige background while wearing the latex bunny outfit shown on the album cover.