Ariana Grande: Singer, Sensation, Star
- Catherine Moscatt
- 8 hours ago
- 3 min read
Today it is very hard to live in the Western (and some parts of the Eastern) world without knowing who Ariana Grande is. According to AI, she has appeared in over 20 different TV shows from Scream Queens to Victorious to Sam and Cat. I have never seen her on TV but I grew up with her music, impressed by her voice even if I knew nothing else about her. To other girls she was their hero. To me she was just a girl that could belt out juicy songs too steamy for the shower (my parents can hear my music).
She really came into my focus when she was cast as Glinda in Wicked. I knew the Wicked soundtrack by heart, owned the songbook and even though I couldn’t hit all the notes I thought I did a decent job on the piano. But I never got to go to Broadway to see it. So when the movie came out I got a Green Apple slurpee, some popcorn, an accommodating boyfriend and saw it in theaters. I was blown away by all the performances but particularly at Grande’s and her co-star Cynthia Erivo who played the “bad” witch Elphaba. Their vocals were strong on their own but together the two girls made quite a pair.
One thing I couldn’t help but notice is that Ariana Grande lost a lot of weight for this production. People were making dire predictions of an eating disorder but “‘The body that you've been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body,’ she explained. ‘I was on a lot of antidepressants, and drinking on them, and eating poorly, and at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider my healthy, but that, in fact, wasn't my healthy.’ I can’t imagine critics criticizing my own body (which is going through some drastic changes right now but that will have to be another post that I’m not ready to have right now) for all the world to see. I think she’s spot on when she says that people should not “publicly discuss” other people’s bodies. For one it makes people self conscious and can lead to unhealthy habits. For another its just rude.
Ariana and Cynthia’s friendship is on everybody’s mind ever since a few days ago in a Singapore red carpet where a man jumped the barricade and rushed Ariana Grande. The video I watched has since been taken down but in it I saw him grab her arm and begin violently shaking her. Other people said he tried to put his arm around her or give her a hug. It was a kind of confusing video to watch. And then Cynthia (who is on the other side of Ariana) rushes over to him and gets him off of her friend before security takes him over. He is now facing three months in prison (Singapore doesn’t joke around. I actually recently found out a certain amount of pot can carry the death penalty). The courageous act on Cynthia’s part reveals how much the two value each other.
This is far from the first difficult thing Ariana Grande has faced. The singer suffers from PTSD after there was a bombing at her concert in 2017 in Manchester. A man walked into the arena and detonated a bomb killing 22 (many of them young fans) and injuring many more. This despicable person wanted people to hurt. Young people just trying to have a good time seeing their favorite artist. That was their only crime. Ariana Grande was so affected by this horrific act her brain scan physically shows that she now suffers from PTSD.
But that has not stopped Ariana from performing, from singing or acting. She is a hard worker and she nails every moment of Glinda’s character, every note. Wicked: For Good comes out this weekend. I urge everyone to see it, to see her. And I can’t wait to see where life takes her, both in entertainment and otherwise.
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