Ariana Grande: Break Free

ISBN-13: 9781629377193

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Triumph Books

Publication Date: 04-09-2019

Pages: 112

Product Dimensions: 8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.30(d)

Katy Sprinkel is the author of dozens of books about pop culture and entertainment.

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CHAPTER 1

Successful

She's fearless. She's frank. She's an artist at the top of her game. And she's just getting started!

These days, Ariana Grande is hitting all the high notes. Her fourth studio album, Sweetener, picked up two Grammy nominations, including Best Pop Vocal Album. She's the only artist ever to have the lead single from each of her first five albums debut in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, and the first female artist in three years to have a single debut at No. 1 on the Hot 100.

Fans have been packing stadiums around the world to see her perform, and her upcoming 65-city world tour in support of not one but two albums in Thank U, Next and Sweetener has already sold out in multiple cities months in advance.

She's a social media powerhouse, with the third-most followers of any Instagrammer and the 11th-most of all Twitter users. Her online engagement with fans is next-level; she regularly replies to fans via social media and tantalizes them with hints and details about every move she makes with her music and beyond. Her devoted legion of fans, the self-dubbed Arianators, are a force to be reckoned with. Just recently, they helped Ariana reach a huge milestone, making her "Thank U, Next" video the most watched YouTube video in a single day. Then her "7 Rings" broke Spotify's single-day listening record with almost 15 million streams in its first 24 hours (4 million more than the previous record holder).

Her nothing-is-off-limits songwriting also resonates with fans, who feel they know the artist's innermost thoughts and feelings. She's penned massive hits about everything from self-love ("Thank U, Next") and female empowerment ("God Is a Woman") to some very NSFW topics.

And then there's her voice. Undeniably, she has one of the most incredible voices in music, and many have tapped her as the heir apparent to powerhouse vocalists such as Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and Whitney Houston. Make no mistake about it — Ari has the chops of those singers; she has a four-octave range that rivals any of the aforementioned legends. Presently, she seems poised to take over the mantle held by modern-day divas Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, and Beyoncé ... if she hasn't already.

It was hard to go anywhere in 2018 without hearing her name. She was the object of intense tabloid scrutiny the instant her relationship with comedian Pete Davidson turned Instagram-official. (If you had a pulse during late 2018, you know how that one turned out.) She lost her ex-boyfriend and close friend Mac Miller to an accidental overdose in October, while engaged to Davidson. She was also very frank about the fact that she is still reeling from PTSD from the 2017 attack at her concert in Manchester, England, that left 22 fans dead and hundreds more injured.

All told, it was a tumultuous year for the singer, to put it mildly. Accepting Billboard Woman of the Year honors in November 2018, she spoke candidly to the audience about all of her recent ups and downs. "This has been one of the best years in my career and one of ... the worst years in my life," she said, holding back tears. "I'm just saying that because I feel like a lot of people would look at someone in my position ... and think, you know, 'She's really got [it] together.' ... I just want to say if you're someone out there who has no idea what this next chapter is going to bring, you're not alone."

The speech was typical Ari, whose candor is on permanent display in her music, on her socials, and in interviews. "If I'm going to be a role model, the last thing I should be is perfect, because that's not realistic," she told the BBC. "As long as I'm honest and genuine and I share with my fans my truest self, that's the best that I can do, because that's allowing them to do the same thing."

Her relatability, sheer talent, indefatigable work ethic, and refusal to be categorized are just a few of the reasons Arianators the world wide are singing her praises. And she's only getting started!

Remember

It was a sunny summer day in Boca Raton, Florida, when Edward Butera and Joan Grande-Butera welcomed their baby girl into the world, joining half-brother Frankie, 10 years her senior.

In those early years, the Grande-Butera household was a happy home filled with music, love, and laughter. "My family was the stereotypical poker-playing, loud, friendly, food-shoving, loving Italian family," Ariana told Complex magazine. And although the name Ariana, meaning "holy one," might sound like a nod to the family's Roman Catholic faith, Edward and Joan were actually inspired by quite a different source. The name was taken from Princess Oriana, a character in the classic Felix the Cat cartoons of the early 20 century.

It was Ari's mother who was especially fond of classic Hollywood, and she made sure her daughter got exposure to the great films. This also extended to music, and Joan peppered young Ariana's musical education with some of the all-time great voices, including the inimitable Judy Garland. "Every day my mom and I would watch a different Judy Garland VHS," Ari told Billboard in 2013. "I love how she tells a story when she sings. It was just about her voice and the words she was singing — no strings attached or silly hair or costumes, just a woman singing her heart out."

Joan has always been a role model for her daughter. She started her own company, which produces marine communication equipment, when she was eight months pregnant with Ariana, and still serves as its CEO to this day. Part of her vision was to create a company that would fulfill the needs of working mothers like herself. "I built this building with a day-care area. I actually had it certified," Joan told ELLE magazine. "Employees brought their children, and Ariana was here almost every day."

But the positive female influence in Ari's life doesn't stop with her mother. The singer, who so vigorously celebrates female empowerment, comes from a long line of strong, empowered women! Her grandmother — Nonna, as she's known to Arianators the world over — is whip-smart, hilarious, and unapologetic. (Sound familiar?) And Ari's late aunt Judy was a Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist and all-around glass-ceiling shatterer. The singer describes Judy and Joan as "through-and-through feminist queens."

Armed with Grande confidence and strength, Ari was poised for the spotlight from the start. And as far back as she can remember, she loved to perform. "I was always running around the house in costume and makeup. I was a different character every single day," she told Scholastic. And she was always singing. "We [were] running around the house screaming musicals, constantly singing songs from Rent and Wicked," big brother Frankie recalled to Attitude magazine. "There [was] always a performance going on in our house."

Singing was undoubtedly Ariana's greatest source of happiness, and she knew she had found her calling early on. "When I was six years old, I just kind of decided [singing is] what I'm going to do with my life, period," she told Billboard in 2018. "I manifested it. I knew I would. There was never really a doubt in my mind."

She started doing community theater and landed the plum title role in Annie at age eight. Parents were not allowed to attend rehearsals unless they were in the show, so her mom auditioned so she could be there alongside her daughter. "[It] was the funniest thing that's ever happened in the history of the world, because my mom is a CEO, she has her own companies, her own full schedule," Ariana told the Daily Telegraph. " She was Daddy Warbucks' maid. ... She had to wear a French maid's outfit and use a broom. She was like, 'I have no idea what I'm doing right now ... but anything for my daughter.'"

Around the same time, Ariana had her first brush with stardom when she performed karaoke on a cruise ship in front of a huge crowd that just happened to include the famous pop star Gloria Estefan. Apparently Estefan was so impressed with Ari's singing that she came over after the performance to offer her some words of encouragement. "I literally went up to her and told her and her mom, 'I don't know if you plan on doing this, but this is what you need to be doing because you are an amazing singer,'" Estefan told the Daily News. "It was amazing."

Sadly, it was also around this time that Ariana's parents divorced. "That was very hard," Ari told the Daily Telegraph. "Being in the middle of it was so stressful. And of course being made up of both of them — I was like, 'Hey, if they both dislike each other's attributes so much, what am I to like about [myself]?' ... It was traumatic."

Her mother and Nonna and the rest of the family kept her steady during that difficult period — during which she became estranged from her father — and music gave her a vehicle for channeling difficult emotions. Within a few years, she was auditioning on bigger stages. She landed the role of Charlotte in the Broadway musical 13 at age 15, winning a National Youth Theatre Association Award for her performance. Suddenly, she was in the national spotlight. By then, Ariana had quit school to pursue a career in acting and music. And even though she was laser-focused on her goal, it wasn't without trepidation that she made such a big move.

Nickelodeon took notice of Ari in 13, and in 2009 she was cast on Victorious as Cat Valentine, the sweet, energetic, fire-engine-red-haired bubblehead denizen of Hollywood Arts High School. From there, her showbiz career took off in earnest. As luck would have it, producers also tapped her 13 castmate (and Lindsay Lohan dead ringer) Elizabeth Gillies for the show. The two have remained close friends for more than a decade.

Cat was a longtime fan favorite, and the network ultimately decided to spin off Cat from Victorious and Jennette McCurdy's Sam Puckett from iCarly to create the series Sam & Cat. The show followed the comic adventures — more often misadventures — of the titular characters and their Super Rockin' Fun Time Babysitting Service. The show was a hit for Nick, but it was abruptly canceled after 36 episodes amid swirling rumors of rivalries, scandal (in the form of leaked photos of McCurdy), and diva-like clashes between its two principal stars.

Ari stayed above the fray, posting a heartfelt message to her fans on Twitter after news of the cancellation broke, writing in part: "I will always hold Cat near and dear to my heart. ... I think a lot of people could take a page out of her book...... she wouldn't judge anybody by their appearance. ... she believed the best in people. ... she wasn't afraid of anything or anybody. ... she never let people's judgements hold her back from doing what she wanted, acting how she wanted, dressing how she wanted ... [dyeing] her hair however she wanted ... she never held back her enthusiasm or joy for fear of appearing some sort of way or for fear of jinxing the good that is real (which is something I personally do all the time but I wish I could shake that and celebrate every little thing like she does).

"One of my favorite things about Cat was that she never lost her sense of wonder. As we grow up we become more and more jaded and fearful of how we come across. We hold back a little more, protect ourselves a little more and although Cat goes through the same ridicule as anybody else does growing up, she never changed or lost her childlike wonder. To me that's the bravest, most special thing about her. She actually reminds me a lot of [my half-brother] Frankie in that way.

"So I know a lot of people will think this is a lot for some 'dumb' kids show character. ... but to me she is actually a lot smarter, stronger and braver than all the rest of us."

Meanwhile, Ariana's music career was about to take off. She'd been working on her debut album on and off for the better part of three years while shooting Victorious and Sam & Cat. Finally, with the cancellation of the latter — and armed with the lessons she'd learned from her time playing Cat Valentine — she was ready to take center stage with her music career.

Side to Side

Pop music is a hugely collaborative art form, and Ari has worked side by side with some of the biggest names in the industry over the course of her career so far, both onstage and behind the scenes.

Ariana started releasing music while she was still a budding talent at Nick. It was a great opportunity to jump-start her recording career, but Ari was conflicted. She released her debut single, the bubble-gum anthem to optimism "Put Your Hearts Up," in 2013, but it failed to chart. (She later disavowed the single, even removing it from her Vevo page. "I feel like [it] would have been Cat's single. I really wanted to do music, but I couldn't wait. So I was stuck in this weird world where it was like 'I'm Cat, but I'm ...me,'" she told Zach Sang and the Gang in 2015.)

It wasn't until she left television and the role of Cat Valentine behind that Ari felt comfortable showing her fans who she really was as an artist and a person. She heralded this arrival with the release of her 2013 album, Yours Truly, which had been a work in progress for years — she started working on it while still on Victorious. "Hearts Up" didn't make the final cut for the album, as Ari felt it was "inauthentic," and authenticity was of the utmost importance to her by that time. As she focused on revealing her true self, part of that process meant distinguishing herself from the naïve, optimistic Cat, projecting a little more maturity and chipping away at that goody-two-shoes image.

Fittingly, given Ari's efforts to distance herself from her former image, the lead single from Yours Truly, "The Way," sidesteps kiddie pop, and Mac Miller lends a gritty edge to the track, spitting lyrics like "You're a princess in the public but a freak when it's time." It's a throwback to radio-friendly '90s R&B, begging comparisons to vocally adroit divas such as Mariah Carey. Indeed, Rolling Stone called the single "flirty rather than freaky," adding "her Mariah-esque vocals verge on ecstatic." MTV was rapturous, proclaiming her "the hottest pop newcomer in the game." The single debuted in the Billboard top 10 and went on to be certified platinum. The entire album was a commercial success — debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and earning platinum certification — and a critical triumph too. Pitchfork called it "not your typical pop album" with "ludicrously powerful" vocals.

Aside from Mac Miller, Yours Truly brought in more collaborative firepower in Nathan Sykes (the Wanted), Big Sean, and Mika on vocals and producers Babyface and Harmony Samuels behind the scenes. It was also Ari's first of many collaborations with producer Tommy Brown ("Honeymoon Avenue," "Daydreamin'"). Also notably, Ari paired up on the record with songwriter and future bestie Victoria Monét, who wrote two tracks on the debut ("Honeymoon Avenue" and "Daydreamin'"). The two have gone on to work together on every album since then and are very close friends.

In August 2014 Ari released her next album, My Everything, which shot immediately to the top of the charts. It was the second straight No. 1 debut — two in less than a year's time (not bad, considering it took more than three years to complete Yours Truly). The A.V. Club called it "a slick throwback to melodramatic '80s and '90s pop" that "further establishes Grande as a consummate performer and vocal interpreter," and Rolling Stone heralded it as "a confident, intelligent, brazen pop statement, mixing bubblegum diva vocals with EDM break beats."

It was also a step further in her maturity, and she pushed the boundaries of her lyrical content into hot and heavy territory while exploring a more expansive sound. She did so with the help of some huge names in hip-hop and R&B — the likes of The Weeknd, Childish Gambino, Iggy Azalea, Zedd, A$AP Ferg, and Big Sean. She was "an innocent newcomer no more," wrote the Los Angeles Times in its review of the record.

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Excerpted from "Ariana Grande: Break Free"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Katy Sprinkel.
Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

1. Successful,
2. Remember,
3. Side to Side,
4. Focus,
5. Dangerous Woman,
6. Right There,
7. Tattooed Heart,
8. No Tears Left to Cry,
9. Thank U, Next,
10. Imagine,