Ariana Grande

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About

Ariana Grande is an American singer and actress known for her several popular songs and for her role as the character Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon television shows Sam & Cat and Victorious.

Career

In 2008, Grande was cast as a cheerleader in the children's Broadway musical 13. The following year, she was cast as Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon television show Victorious, a series about an aspiring teenage singer Tori Vega (played by Victoria Justice). In June 2013, Nickelodeon premiered the spinoff show Sam & Cat, in which Grande also played the role of Cat Valentine.

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In August 2013, Grande's debut studio album Yours Truly was released, which reached No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart by the following month. In August 2014, Grande released her second studio album My Everything, which debuted at the top of the Billboard 200.

"Problem" Music Video

On May 1st, 2014, the ArianaGrandeVevo^[1] YouTube channeled uploaded the music video for the track "Problem", which is in black and white and features the lyrics overlayed over close-ups of Grande and Azelea (shown below, left). Within three months, the video gained over 51 million views and 33,000 comments. On May 30th, the YouTube channel uploaded a second music video for the song, which features a 1960s mod astetic and pyscadelic backgrounds. Within two months, the video gained over 65 million views and over 75,000 comments (shown below, right). The song subsequently spawned dozens of fan-made parodies and covers

Online History

Nude Photo Leak

During a massive leak of celebrity nude photographs known as "The Fappening", several pictures began circulating that many speculated were of Grande. A spokesperson for Grande responded to the rumors claiming they were "completely fake."^[1]

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Performance

On December 2nd, 2014, Ariana was hit in the back by a runway model wearing a pair of costume angel wings during her performance at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (shown below).

Following the performance, Grande tweeted^[2] about the incident and added the hashtag "#bangbangintomyface," gathering upwards of 83,400 retweets and 44,000 favorites in the first 24 hours (shown below).

That day, fans began photoshopping a cutout of Grande dodging the costume piece into other base images of various humorous contexts (shown below). In the coming days, several news sites reported on the photoshop meme, including US Weekly,^[3] E! Entertainment,^[4] The Daily Mail,^[5] Bustle^[6] and Mashable.^[7]

Breakup With Pete Davidson

On October 14th, 2018, TMZ reported that Ariana Grande had broken up with now-ex fiancée Pete Davidson.^[8] A later report suggested that the passing of Grande's ex-boyfriend Mac Miller may have been the cause of the breakup.^[9]

On Twitter, users reacted to the news in various ways. One common thread of responses expressed a lack of surprise that the relationship, which moved very quickly, would end as suddenly. User @fanaticgrande posted a GIF expressing how they knew the relationship would not make it to 2019, gaining over 350 retweets and 1,700 likes (shown below, left). User @itsliadee posted a GIF of mock surprise to the news, gaining over 460 retweets and 1,700 likes (shown below, right).

Fans set up a mock GoFundMe for Davidson, joking that he was now homeless after the split with Grande. The campaign has since been deleted, but a tweet about it by gnightngos gained over 3,500 retweets and 10,000 likes (shown below).

Others expressed that even though they expected this outcome, it was still sad. Twitter user @RyanShocket tweeted images of Kris Jenner crying to express his reaction to the news, gaining over 8,400 retweets and 38,000 likes (shown below, left). User @HayesBrown expressed he knew it was coming but was still surprised it came to pass, gaining over 60 retweets and 320 likes (shown below, right).

"Aubrey" Misheard Lyric

On November 3rd, 2018, Ariana Grande released a song called "thank u, next" which details why she is grateful for her ex-boyfriends and the experiences she had with them. When detailing a new relationship, she sings, "But this one gon' last / 'Cause her name is Ari," implying that she is focusing on herself.

However, many misheard the lyric as stating "Her name is Aubrey," which would imply Grande had entered a same-sex relationship. When Apple Music uploaded the track to its streaming service, they provided the misheard lyric.^[10] This prompted Grande to correct the service on Twitter (shown below).

Twitter users joked about the misheard lyric as though Grande had entered a homosexual relationship. User @sbstryker posted an image of the Jenners mocking their own inability to understand the lyric, gaining 420 retweets and 4,111 likes (shown below, left). User @visionsofgrande posted an image of Shrek joking about the lyric, gaining over 280 retweets and 3,600 likes (shown below, right). The jokes were covered by Preen^[11] and Elite Daily.^[10]

JonBenet Ramsey Comment Controversy

On July 27th, 2019, Grande replied to a picture, since deleted, posted by Instagram user @dougmiddlebrook of a cover of tabloid magazine Globe announcing an arrest had been made in the case of JonBenet Ramsey's murder. Her comment stated "i can't WAIT for this to be your Halloween look" (shown below).

On July 28th, Twitter user @ivanmoratroya^[12] tweeted the images, saying, "Wait WHAT?? an 8-year-old girl who was violently killed, strangled and suffocated cannot be anyone's costume…", gaining over 17,000 retweets and 68,000 likes (shown below, left). Ariana responded to the tweet saying she deleted it quickly and that it's "not a joke."^[13]

Despite her statement, Twitter users still criticized Grande for the comment. User @5HAHEM^[14] tweeted that Grande was problematic, gaining over 1,000 likes (shown below, left). User @swiftlypastel^[15] commented it was tasteless considering the 2017 Manchester Bombing occurred at an Ariana Grande concert.