Looking Back at Ariana Grande’s Year
It is hard to believe that Ariana Grande broke up with Mac Miller, was engaged to Pete Davidson, and released “thank u, next” all in the same calendar year. Needless to say, her year has been a rollercoaster.
Written by Téa Anderson
Photo Courtesy of Republic Records
People often forget that celebrities are human too. They have bad days — and Ariana Grande has had a series of them. Despite everything that has happened to her this year, she hasn’t let any of it hold her back. Looking back at Ariana Grande’s year, it is undeniable that she learned how to take adversity and still come out on top.
Following the Manchester bombing at Grande’s concert in May 2017, she took some much needed time off. She spent the beginning of 2018 surrounded by her family and friends.
Grande returned to music with the upbeat, dance track “no tears left to cry” in April. Mac Miller, Grande’s boyfriend at the time, tweeted his support for the track. Ariana was also a surprise performer at weekend two of Coachella, Miller in tow.
In early May, it was announced that Miller and Grande had broken up. A few days later rumors began circulating that Grande was casually dating SNL comedian Pete Davidson and that Miller was arrested for driving under the influence, to which a Twitter user blamed on Grande for leaving him. She clapped back on her Twitter saying:
Grande and Davidson were officially together as of May 30, and shortly thereafter on June 11 their engagement was announced. Grande also released “god is a woman,” the second single from her upcoming album Sweetener, on July 13. It debuted at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In August, Grande released her fourth studio album Sweetener. She promoted the album on talk shows from Jimmy Kimmel to Ellen to Jimmy Fallon. She was also featured on James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke.
In early September, Mac Miller passed away due to drug overdose. Grande was deeply affected and wasn’t as active on her Twitter. Later in the month, she released her perfume Clouds but there was very little promotion for the product in light of Miller’s death. “breathin’’ was debuted as the third single from Sweetener later in the month.
A few weeks later in October, it was announced that Grande and Davidson had broken off their engagement. Speculations began that Grande was back in the studio, working on a new album despite just releasing Sweetener.
Grande announced her world tour for Sweetener in November. Grande also began releasing episodes on her YouTube channel which feature the behind the scenes production of Sweetener. Grande released “thank u, next” as the lead single for her fifth upcoming album. The single made Spotify history with 8.19 million streams globally and 4.19 million streams in the US alone. The music video for “thank u, next,” which features stars from “Mean Girls” actor Jonathan Bennett to Kris Jenner, also broke the record for the most views in 24 hours with 50.3 million views.
Celebrities: they are just like us. We all have our highs and lows. Even if you’re not a fan of Grande’s music, she deserves so much respect for how she handled everything that was thrown at her this year. Here’s to a better 2019 for all of us, and here’s some final scripture from “god” herself: