Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande, born Ariana Grande-Butera on June 26, 1993, in Boca Raton, Florida, is a celebrated award-winning singer and actress. She first gained recognition for her role as Cat Valentine on Nickelodeon's "Victorious" and its spin-off "Sam & Cat." Transitioning to music, Grande released her debut album, "Yours Truly," in 2013, which launched a successful career characterized by multiple chart-topping albums, including "Sweetener" (2018), "Thank U, Next" (2019), and her upcoming "Eternal Sunshine" (2024). Known for her impressive vocal range, her music often blends pop and R&B influences, drawing comparisons to artists like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.
Beyond her musical achievements, Grande has shown resilience in the face of tragedy, notably after the Manchester Arena attack in 2017 during her concert, which left a lasting impact on her and her fans. She has actively supported the LGBTQ+ community and used her platform to advocate for various causes. Grande's personal life includes high-profile relationships, including her engagement to Dalton Gomez, with whom she married in 2021 before their divorce in 2023. As she continues to evolve as an artist and public figure, Grande remains a prominent and influential presence in the entertainment industry.
Ariana Grande
Singer and actor
- Born: June 26, 1993
- Place of Birth: Boca Raton, Florida
- Main Occupation or Related Field: Singer and actor
Significance: An award-winning singer, Ariana Grande first rose to fame by acting in the Nickelodeon series Victorious (2010–13) and Sam & Cat (2013–14). Making music her career focus after the release of her debut album, Yours Truly (2013), she went on to release several more full-length projects, including Sweetener (2018), Positions (2020), and Eternal Sunshine (2024).
Background
Ariana Grande, born Ariana Grande-Butera, was born on June 26, 1993, in Boca Raton, Florida. Her mother, Brooklyn-born Joan Grande, is the owner of a company that sells marine communications equipment called Hose-McCann Communications, while her father, Edward Butera, is a graphic designer. Her parents divorced when she was around eight. For Grande and her older half-brother, Frankie, dark humor was the norm, and Halloween decorations were lavish. For her fourth birthday, Grande had a Jaws-themed party as she was a big fan of the film.
Grande discovered her passion for singing at an early age and began to nurture her vocal skills by using the karaoke machine she had at home, giving her own spin to classics by Madonna, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey. While attending Pine Crest School, she was also active in her local children’s theater, Little Palm Theatre, where she put her singing skills to good use, appearing as the titular character in the musical Annie at age eight. At that same age, Grande made her first television appearance singing the national anthem before a 2002 Florida Panthers–Chicago Blackhawks hockey game.
By the time she reached the age of thirteen, Grande was unequivocal about her desire to become a professional singer, though she continued acting in theater. While playing the lead in the musical Cinderella at the Florida Children’s Theatre, she was cast to play a cheerleader named Charlotte in a Broadway musical production called 13 in 2008. Leaving Boca Raton for New York City, Grande, who was enrolled at North Broward Preparatory School in Coconut Creek, continued her education from a distance, eventually graduating from high school in 2012.
Career in Entertainment
Although Grande had already been part of a Broadway production, her first encounter with fame was portraying lovable high schooler Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon comedy series Victorious, which ran from 2010 to 2013. The popularity her character gained throughout the show led to a spin-off called Sam & Cat, which aired between 2013 and 2014 and starred Grande alongside actor Jennette McCurdy as the two leads. The following year, she appeared as Sonya Herfmann in the first season of the horror-comedy television series Scream Queens.
At the same time, Grande also began advancing her music career. At just twenty in 2013, she released her debut album, Yours Truly. The pop/R&B album’s twelve tracks, including “Baby I” and “Piano,” drew influences from Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Yours Truly marked the beginning of a successful music career; she soon joined Justin Bieber’s Believe Tour as the opening act and won a 2013 American Music Award for New Artist of the Year.
When Grande’s sophomore album, My Everything, was released in 2014, it debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart. Furthermore, its lead single, “Problem,” which featured Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, reached the number-two spot on the Billboard Hot 100. To support the album, Grande then embarked on her first world tour, called My Everything, in 2015.
In 2016, her third album, Dangerous Woman, which featured collaborations with singers such as Nicki Minaj and Macy Gray, debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart. In May 2017, while Grande was holding a concert at the Manchester Arena in England as part of her Dangerous Woman Tour, a suicide bomber killed twenty-two people and injured more than eight hundred. Although the terrorist attack left the singer unharmed, she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, which led to a temporary halt of the tour. The following month, Grande returned to Manchester to visit survivors of the attack in the hospital and organize the One Love Manchester concert. The June 2017 benefit concert raised $3 million for the Manchester Emergency Fund and featured such performers as Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Pharrell Williams, and Coldplay, among others.
Grande next released Sweetener in 2018. The lead single, “No Tears Left to Cry,” marked her first return to new music since the Manchester incident and peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. To commemorate the lives lost in the Manchester bombing, Grande referenced the tragic episode in her “No Tears Left to Cry” video, which generated sixteen million YouTube streams on its first day and spoke directly to survivors in the song “Get Well Soon.” Sweetener earned the singer her first Grammy Award for best pop vocal album in 2019.
The same year, Grande released her fifth album, titled Thank U, Next (2019). In addition to earning her five Grammy nominations, in February 2019, three singles from the album held the top three spots on the Billboard 100 chart—“7 Rings,” “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored,” and “Thank U, Next,” respectively—making Grande the first person to dominate the top of the chart since the Beatles in 1964.
The year 2020 only added more momentum to her already successful career as she released Positions, her sixth full-length project comprising fourteen pop/R&B tracks, including the title track “Positions,” which debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Moreover, in December of that year, Netflix released Ariana Grande: Excuse Me, I Love You, chronicling Grande’s life as she embarked on her 2019 Sweetener Tour. Also in 2020, Grande was featured on singer Lady Gaga’s single “Rain On Me,” for which they won the Grammy Award for best pop duo/group performance. Grande released a handful of single remixes from 2020 to 2023, collaborating with other artists. In 2021, Grande appeared in the Netflix film, Don't Look Up and released an accompanying song to the film. She also began appearing as a judge on the reality singing competition series The Voice that year. In November 2021, Grande launched her cosmetics brand, R.E.M. Beauty. In addition, it was announced that Grande would star as Glinda in a two-part film adaptation of the award-winning musical Wicked, scheduled to be released in late 2024.
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of her debut album, Yours Truly, Grande released a deluxe digital version of the chart-topping album in August 2023, including new live performances of select songs.
On December 27, 2023, Grande teased the release of her seventh studio album in a series of photos posted to her Instagram. On January 12, 2024, she released the album's first single, titled "Yes, And?", along with a music video for the track. Upon its debut, the single sold fifty-three thousand units and claimed the number one spot atop the Billboard Hot 100, her sixth song to debut at number one on the chart and the eighth song of her career to claim the top spot. Several days later, on January 17, Grande revealed the album title, Eternal Sunshine, as well as its release date of March 8, 2024. The album title nods to the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), in which a couple break up and elect to endure a procedure to eradicate their memories of one another from their minds.
Eternal Sunshine debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart of most popular albums, earning Grande the sixth number-one album of her career. Within the first week of its release, Eternal Sunshine sold 227,000 units in the US, earned 195 million streams, and sold 77,000 album copies as a complete package. Grande coupled the release of Eternal Sunshine with the album's second single, "We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)," which garnered over thirty million streams and claimed the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its debut; "Yes, And?" remained in the list at number ten, while several other tracks from the album populated across the Billboard charts.
Impact
With seven albums under her belt, Grande’s success not only rests on her powerful vocal range, often compared to more seasoned singers, but also her consistent delivery of R&B/pop songs that make their way near or to the top of the Billboard charts. Combined with her singing abilities are her resilience against tragedy and openness with her fans, which has made her popular among the masses and a reference in the music industry.
Personal Life
A vocal LGBTQ+ advocate, Grande frequently uses her social media and music to support the community. After dating the late rapper Mac Miller from 2016 to 2018, she entered a short-lived engagement with comedian Pete Davidson in 2018. In 2020, she became engaged to Dalton Gomez, a real estate agent from Southern California. The two married in 2021, but the couple separated in 2023. Grande and Gomez finalized their divorce in March 2024.
Bibliography
"Ariana Grande - Songs, Age, & Facts." Biography.com, 17 May 2021, www.biography.com/musicians/ariana-grande. Accessed 3 Apr. 2023.
Connor, Katie. “Ariana Grande Is Here to Save Us.” Elle, 11 July 2018, www.elle.com/culture/music/a22094769/ariana-grande-sweetener-album-manchester-cover-story. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021.
Crandell, Ben. “Ariana Grande: From Boca Raton to Pop-Star Royalty.” Sun Sentinel, 30 May 2019, www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/music/fl-et-ariana-grande-from-boca-raton-to-superstardom-20190530-6u34hije4jgxjoei6vpgmuactm-story.html. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021.
Garcia, Thania. "Ariana Grande Scores Sixth No. 1 Album and Launches ‘We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)’ to Top of Hot 100." Variety, 18 Mar. 2024, variety.com/2024/music/news/ariana-grande-eternal-sunshine-number-one-billboard-songs-albums-charts-1235944996/. Accessed 5 Apr. 2024.
Geggis, Anne. “America’s Tweetheart: Boca-Born Singer/Actress Big on Twitter.” Sun Sentinel, 31 Aug. 2012, www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2012-08-31-fl-boca-ariana-grande-20120830-story.html. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021.
Haskell, Rob. “Ariana Grande on Grief and Growing Up.” Vogue, 9 July 2019, www.vogue.com/article/ariana-grande-cover-august-2019. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021.
Hussey, Allison. "Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Cast in Wicked Film Adaptation." Pitchfork, 4 Nov. 2021, pitchfork.com/news/ariana-grande-and-cynthia-erivo-cast-in-wicked-film-adaptation/. Accessed 15 Sept. 2023.
Jenkins, Justin, and Jill O'Rourke. “Ariana Grande Talks Transformation for 'Don't Look Up.'” Talent Recap, 24 Jan. 2022, talentrecap.com/ariana-grande-talks-transformation-for-dont-look-up/. Accessed 3 Apr. 2023.