ariana grande biography book

Ariana: The Biography

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Less than a fortnight after a terrorist killed twenty-two people at her Manchester show, the petite princess stood tall at her tribute concert that united and healed a shaken nation. She was the emotional core of a powerful evening that reminded us all of music's redemptive power.

But who is Ariana Grande? This candid book traces the US pop star's story from her childhood in Florida, through her teenage years on Broadway and Nickelodeon, and onto her gleaming pop career which has seen her described as 'the new Mariah Carey'.

This unauthorized biography of the songbird tells her eventful and inspirational story in full for the first time, and shows how she became an award-winning, chart-topping pop idol, as well as an empowering inspiration for a generation of girls.

It reveals that there is more to Ariana than the celebrity we all think we know, explaining how her smooth transition from a squeaky-clean teenage pop product to a sophisticated, bold artist was powered by a restless and resilient personality.

A must read for all her fans, this is a full, unflinching portrait of a pop sensation and inspiring, uncompromising woman - the small, sassy girl with the ponytail who conquered the world.

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• Publisher Michael O'Mara
• Publication date 2018
• ISBN 10  1782439749
• ISBN 13  9781782439745
• Binding Paperback
• Number of pages 224

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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Celebrate the phenomenal career of record-breaking superstar Ariana Grande.Ariana Grande has been hailed as one of the most influential celebrities on the internet, a pop icon, and one of the most prominent vocalists of her generation.Fully revised and updated, this revelatory and entertaining biography, published to tie in with the release of the upcoming film Wicked, tells Arianas incredible story. From her childhood in Florida and her teenage years on Broadway and Nickelodeon, to her chart-topping pop career and inspiring and uncompromising activism, this brand new edition is an all-access pass to fascinating details about Ariana.Written in an upbeat and accessible style, this in-depth biography explores every aspect of Arianas life and career to date, from her evolution as a triple-threat entertainer, the stories behind her record-smashing albums, her high-profile personal relationships, and her upcoming role as Glinda the Good in the film Wicked. It also includes a full-colour photographic plate section of Ariana performing and posing. A must-read for all her fans, this is the most complete portrait yet of one of the greatest singers of all time. A revelatory and riveting biography of Ariana Grand, from acting on Nickelodeon to her record-smashing pop career. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9781782439745

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Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. Who is Ariana Grande? This candid book traces the US pop star's story from her childhood in Florida, through her teenage years on Broadway and Nickelodeon, and onto her gleaming pop career which has seen her described as 'the new Mariah Carey'. Seller Inventory # B9781782439745

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Ariana: The Biography Paperback – 14 Jun. 2018

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Celebrate the phenomenal career of record-breaking superstar Ariana Grande. Ariana Grande has been hailed as one of the most influential celebrities on the internet, a pop icon , and one of the most prominent vocalists of her generation. Fully revised and updated, this revelatory and entertaining biography, published to tie in with the release of the upcoming film Wicked, tells Ariana’s incredible story. From her childhood in Florida and her teenage years on Broadway and Nickelodeon, to her chart-topping pop career and inspiring and uncompromising activism, this brand new edition is an all-access pass to fascinating details about Ariana. Written in an upbeat and accessible style, this in-depth biography explores every aspect of Ariana’s life and career to date, from her evolution as a triple-threat entertainer, the stories behind her record-smashing albums , her high-profile personal relationships, and her upcoming role as Glinda the Good in the film Wicked . It also includes a full-colour photographic plate section of Ariana performing and posing. A must-read for all her fans, this is the most complete portrait yet of one of the greatest singers of all time .

• Print length 256 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Michael O'Mara
• Publication date 14 Jun. 2018
• Dimensions 12.7 x 1.78 x 19.69 cm
• ISBN-10 1782439749
• ISBN-13 978-1782439745
• See all details

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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Michael O'Mara; Re-issue edition (14 Jun. 2018)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1782439749
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1782439745
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.7 x 1.78 x 19.69 cm
• 21 in Popular Dance
• 897 in Popular Music
• 1,235 in Rock & Pop Musician Biographies

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Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande is a sitcom-star-turned-pop music sensation, known for such hit songs as "Problem," "Bang Bang," "Dangerous Woman" and "Thank U, Next."

Who Is Ariana Grande?

Ariana Grande began performing onstage when she was a child. Her involvement in a Broadway play at age 15, followed by some small TV parts, helped her land the role of Cat on TV's Victorious . She followed that with the spinoff Sam & Cat and then dove headfirst into a chart-topping musical career, releasing five albums: Yours Truly (2013), My Everything (2014) , Dangerous Woman (2016), Sweetener (2018) and Thank U, Next (2019).

Early Years

Grande was born on June 26, 1993, in Boca Raton, Florida, to Edward Butera, a graphic designer, and Joan Grande, a businesswoman. She took to singing and acting at a young age and made her way onto the local theater scene before she was a teenager. Her first big break came in 2008 when the 15-year-old landed the role of Charlotte in the Broadway production of 13 , a play focusing on life growing up in New York City. The early role led to accolades, and Grande won a National Youth Theatre Association Award.

Two years later, she appeared in the musical Cuba Libre and had a small role on a TV show called The Battery’s Down .

Television Roles

Grande landed her breakout role in the Nickelodeon series Victorious . Victorious was set at a performing arts high school, and Grande was cast as a goofy aspiring singer-actress named Cat Valentine. While busy with the show, Grande nevertheless pursued a musical career, making her first appearance on a record with the Victorious soundtrack. And in 2011, Grande released the single "Put Your Hearts Up," a pop song aimed at the hearts of her young Victorious audience. The show's devoted fan base voted Victorious Favorite TV Show at the 2012 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.

When Victorious went off the air in 2012, Grande's character Cat Valentine survived. She went to star in the Nick spin-off Sam & Cat , co-starring iCarly’s Jennette McCurdy. Sam & Cat wasn’t on long when rumors began to swirl that Grande wasn’t particularly enjoying the experience, and the show came to an abrupt end after 35 episodes (2013-14).

Albums and Songs

'yours truly' & 'my everything', "bang bang," "one last time".

During the summer of 2014, Grande teamed up with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj on the single “Bang Bang,” a track that debuted at No. 6 and peaked at No. 3 in the United States. The album spawned another hit single “One Last Time,” which reached number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Grande had three hit singles from My Everything on the Billboard chart at the same time.

'Dangerous Woman'

In 2015 Grande released Christmas & Chill , a holiday album, and the single "Focus," which debuted at number seven on the Billboard's Hot 100. In February 2016, she released her third album Dangerous Woman , and the title track debuted at number 10 on the Hot 100 that March. She made music history with the track's success, becoming the first artist to have the lead singles from her first three albums debut in the Top 10. Dangerous Woman , which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, also features collaborations with Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne , Macy Gray and Future.

'Sweetener'

Grande returned to the charts in April 2018 with "No Tears Left to Cry," the catchy, upbeat response to the previous year's Manchester concert bombing. She followed in June with the dance track "The Light Is Coming," featuring Minaj; dropped the sultry "God Is a Woman" in mid-July; and delivered "Breathin" in September. The four releases were included in her highly anticipated album Sweetener, which debuted in mid-August, as was a track about her whirlwind romance with Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson . The overall success of Sweetener led to her first Grammy win, for Best Pop Vocal Album, in February 2019.

'Thank U, Next'

Grande quickly returned to the studio to produce her fifth album, Thank U, Next . The title track hit airwaves in early November 2018, and another chart-topper, "7 Rings," arrived in January 2019. The album debuted in February to strong praise, alongside a new single, "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored."

In April 2019 the 25-year-old songstress demonstrated her drawing power by becoming the youngest performer ever to headline Coachella, as well as just the fourth woman to earn the honor. Her collaborations from around this time include "Rule the World," with 2 Chainz, "Monopoly," with Victoria Monét, and "Boyfriend," with Social House. Later that year Grande joined Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey for the single "Don't Call Me Angel," from the Charlie's Angels soundtrack.

Grande continued with the collaborations into 2020, her joint effort with Justin Bieber on "Stuck With U" hitting the Billboard top spot in May before she joined Lady Gaga for "Rain on Me" later in the month.

'Positions'

Her third album in just two years, Grande released positions in October 2020 to generally positive reviews.

Bombing at Dangerous Woman Tour

In 2017 Grande performed the title track for the soundtrack of the live action movie Beauty and the Beast . In February of that year, she began her Dangerous Woman tour across North America and then Europe. On May 22, 2017, tragedy struck after Grande finished a concert in Manchester, England and a suicide bomber detonated a bomb at the exit of the concert hall, killing 22 people and wounding 116, including many young adults and children. "All acts of terrorism are cowardly... but this attack stands out for its appalling sickening cowardice, deliberately targeting innocent, defenseless children and young people who should have been enjoying one of the most memorable nights of their lives," British Prime Minister Theresa May said after the attack.

The pop star responded to the horrific act on Twitter.

Less than a day after the attack, Grande suspended her Dangerous Woman tour. She returned to Manchester 13 days after the attack to perform a benefit concert on June 4 for the bombing victims, enlisting friends and fellow superstars to perform including Bieber, Cyrus, Katy Perry , Liam Gallagher, Chris Martin , and Pharrell Williams . Before the concert, Grande visited fans who had been injured in the attack, and she also offered 14,000 free tickets to people who had been at the May 22 concert.

Grande resumed her tour on June 7th in Paris, posting in Instagram : "First show back tonight. Thinking of our angels every step of the way. I love you with all my heart. Grateful for and incredibly proud of my band, dancers and entire crew. I love you. I love you."

The following year, the singer revealed that she was still feeling the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder from the event. "It's hard to talk about because so many people have suffered such severe, tremendous loss," she told British Vogue . "I don't think I'll ever know how to talk about it and not cry."

Among her many accolades, Grande has won six iHeartRadio Music Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards and three American Music Awards. She has also earned 12 Grammy nominations and one win.

The pop diva returned to television with a guest appearance on Scream Queens in 2015, and she hit the big screen in a cameo appearance in Zoolander 2 in 2016. She also starred as Penny Pingleton, Tracy Turnblad's best friend, in NBC's Hairspray Live! in December 2016.

Grande has also become a popular host of Saturday Night Live , bringing her musical and acting talents to the show, including uncanny impersonations of fellow pop divas Britney Spears , Shakira , Rihanna , Celine Dion and Whitney Houston in a skit spoofing the streaming service Tidal.

In February 2020 Grande made a guest appearance on season 2 of Jim Carrey 's Showtime series Kidding .

Fragrances, Charities and Social Media

In addition to her musical and acting projects, Grande has launched two fragrances "Ari by Ariana Grande" and "Frankie by Ariana Grande" with her brother Frankie Grande.

When she is not performing, the pop superstar supports various charitable causes including Kids Who Care, a group she co-founded that raises money for charities in the South Florida region. She also has cultivated a massive social media presence on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and Snapchat, and landed on Time magazine's list of "The 100 Most Influential People" in 2016.

Personal Life

Grande went public with her romance with her "The Way" collaborator Mac Miller in August 2016. The pair split in May 2018 after almost two years of dating. "I respect and adore him endlessly and am grateful to have him in my life in any form, at all times regardless of how our relationship changes or what the universe holds for each of us!" Grande posted on Instagram.

On June 11, 2018, People magazine confirmed that the singer was engaged to SNL 's Davidson, her boyfriend of several weeks. Subsequent attention focused on their affectionate social media posts directed at one another, though the couple found themselves in an awkward position when footage surfaced of Davidson making a joke about the Manchester concert bombing months earlier.

Grande was devastated by Miller's death from an accidental drug overdose in September 2018, a development that seemingly impacted her relationship with Davidson. By October 2018, the singer and comedian had split.

Grande went on to date Social House's Mikey Foster, before sparking a relationship with real estate agent Dalton Gomez. The pair got engaged in December 2020 and wed in May 2021.

QUICK FACTS

• Birth Year: 1993
• Birth date: June 26, 1993
• Birth State: Florida
• Birth City: Boca Raton
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: Ariana Grande is a sitcom-star-turned-pop music sensation, known for such hit songs as "Problem," "Bang Bang," "Dangerous Woman" and "Thank U, Next."
• Theater and Dance
• Astrological Sign: Cancer
• Nacionalities

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Ariana Grande Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/musicians/ariana-grande
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: May 17, 2021
• Original Published Date: December 4, 2014

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ARIANA GRANDE BIOGRAPHY: The Inspiring Journey of the Rise to Pop Domination (Rhythm Realms) Kindle Edition

• Print length 35 pages
• Language English
• Publication date 10 January 2024
• File size 327 KB
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• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CS3Y7N4H
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
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From Taylor to Ariana, pop’s overreliance on gossip is choking the life out of it

Today’s pop stars are cramming songs with so much biography they need footnotes – and they’re in danger of alienating all but their hardcore fans

W hen Taylor Swift released Reputation in 2017, she self-published an accompanying magazine while avoiding interviews. “When this album comes out, gossip blogs will scour the lyrics for the men they can attribute to each song, as if the inspiration for music is as simple and basic as a paternity test,” she wrote in an essay. The sentiment oozed with contempt for playing dot-to-dot with her lyrics – even though, from her debut album to Reputation’s predecessor 1989, Swift left clues in her liner notes that clearly indicated whom certain songs were about.

Seven years on, and Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department, couldn’t be more transparent about its subjects – typewriters and tattoos lighting a path to the 1975’s Matty Healy, whom she had a fling with last spring; Hampstead Heath and “longsuffering propriety” referring to actor Joe Alwyn, who she dated for six years.

In case you didn’t clock them from ambient exposure to the mass coverage of the past year in her life, there are hundreds of articles online handily “decoding” the carefully chosen references; bonus song The Black Dog mentions Pennsylvania pop-punk band the Starting Line, and one easy Google search reveals that the 1975 covered them live last year. Maybe Swift was going for the highest-profile humiliation of her exes possible; maybe it’s an admission of defeat against a media that will pick the bones clean of anything she does – or a naked attempt to harness the exposure guaranteed by that kind of coverage.

The latter seems most likely given that gossip is pop’s driving engine right now. From Swift to Ariana Grande’s divorce album Eternal Sunshine , Sabrina Carpenter, Miley Cyrus and Olivia Rodrigo, the highest-profile releases are laden with popcorn-chewing subtext – or it’s the subtext that propels them to that level of exposure.

The lurid appeal of famous people shit-talking one another is evident – and it’s long been an art form in rap, now in the midst of a purple patch for beef – but whether it makes for lasting pop is another matter. Swift helped propagate the notion that pop achieves universality through specificity, though there’s a point at which specificity begins to strangle the life out of songwriting; where proper nouns (“Charlie Puth”) stand in for being able to contour emotional arcs and elegant portrayals of relationship dynamics that listeners might see in their own lives. Rather than enduring landmarks in an artist’s catalogue, these records can feel like expansions of personal lore more akin to how the Marvel Cinematic Universe operates: a layering of references and gestures over meaning and depth; a patently obvious breadcrumb trail that harnesses the public into promoting a generation of superstars, who can now comfortably evade the press.

The move away from physical music and bespoke music media to streaming and social media seems key to this shift. New music is now just another thing in your feed; it has had to use the eye-catching clickbait of its competitors to keep pace. “Why do you care so much whose dick I ride?” Grande asked on Yes, And?, the lead single from Eternal Sunshine – rebuking fans and baiting them at the same time. It’s also down to a generation of particularly young female pop stars becoming the writers of their own work and so documenting their own lives, something that was much less common at the turn of the 2010s. That is a wholly positive shift that has produced a ton of great work. But even the most elegant songwriters find themselves caught in an age when veracity is considered the ultimate in authenticity, and they are subject to prurient online sleuthing that treats songwriting as a series of clues to piece together in pursuit of some ultimate “truth”.

Rodrigo never discussed the explicit background to her masterful debut single Drivers License, but fans quickly assumed that it concerned a supposed love triangle between three young Disney Channel stars. She seemed burned by the invasive coverage; so too was Joshua Bassett, the alleged male party, who ended up hospitalised as a result of the stress and whose career has never recovered. Carpenter, the rumoured “other woman”, wrote the excellently nonchalant Because I Liked a Boy after she was hounded over the allegations (“Now I’m a homewrecker, I’m a slut … Tell me who I am ’cos I don’t have a choice”). She then seemed to become weaponised in a rumoured rift between Rodrigo and Swift when the latter invited Carpenter to support the Eras tour (Rodrigo’s comeback single Vampire was also assumed to be about Swift).

For all that subtext, Carpenter’s new single, Espresso, is a mercifully frothy diversion from the discourse: breezy disco about being so hot you keep boys up at night. It’s rising up the UK Top 10, and Carpenter looks set to become the next big pop star – a waning archetype, with few breaking through since Rodrigo in 2021. You wonder if the difficulty in developing new stars comes down to an absence of readymade lore, which Carpenter has. Now 24, she is only new to the general public. She started on Disney at 16 and has released five albums, and left Disney’s own Hollywood Records, which caters to a niche teen audience, to sign to Island for 2022’s Emails I Can’t Send – her first album after intrigue into her personal life flourished.

It leaves pop in a tricky spot. Too much gossip and you date your work; too little and fans lose interest. Last year, Ellie Goulding toted her fifth album, Higher Than Heaven, as her “least personal record yet” – and it was also her least successful, bombing out of the UK charts after a fortnight. The opening track to Justin Timberlake’s new album, Everything I Thought It Was teased introspection in the wake of his post-Britney reckoning, but only offered up vacant libidinous disco pop: it also dropped out of the Top 100 after two weeks. Kacey Musgraves’ latest album, Deeper Well, frustratingly traded her old lyrical specificity for therapy-smoothed platitudes. Dua Lipa’s forthcoming album has been distinguished by a remarkably blank press campaign: good on her for not spilling her guts for headlines, but her vapid interviews and three totally impersonal singles have left fans nonplussed about Radical Optimism. “The self is the only subject,” Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys – one of pop’s great storytellers – withered at a Guardian Live event this week while promoting the band’s new album, Nonetheless, which instead imagines the inner lives of dancer Rudolf Nureyev, spy George Blake and Oscar Wilde.

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Today’s self-obsessed pop, which needs its own footnotes, may well alienate the passing fan who just wants something to listen to in the car. Perhaps that’s why charts are seeing a resurgence of rustic broad-church emoting from the likes of Benson Boone, Teddy Swims, Hozier and Noah Kahan; and why Natasha Bedingfield’s Unwritten has stuck around off the back of its Saltburn bump (“No one else can speak the words on your lips”).

There’s also a rising newcomer in Chappell Roan, the alternative US pop star whose Good Luck, Babe! is shooting up the Top 40. It’s a song about loving a closeted woman who ultimately goes back to men, which nonetheless makes a universal statement about the unstoppable nature of desire: “You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling,” she sings. Moreover, she has a fantastical vision: a sort of regency rodeo prom queen; or Elizabeth I with a pig’s nose . As with the Last Dinner Party’s similarly baroque get-ups, it’s an invitation to fantasia that assumes no prior knowledge: just don some fancy dress and get stuck in. That sense also seems key to Beyoncé’s current incarnation: after the personal revelations of her 2013 self-titled album and 2016’s Lemonade, 2022’s Renaissance and this year’s Cowboy Carter mostly strip the specifics of her life from the lyrics to instead comfortably centre Beyoncé as a font of joyful genre play and invention. Tellingly, the one “Becky with the good hair” reference in Cowboy Carter’s Jolene rewrite stuck out for its tedious biographical retread.

None of this is to say that pop stars should avoid writing about their personal lives – far from it. But the most resonant pop steers between the two impulses. Charli XCX’s comeback single Von Dutch was clearly taunting someone – “it’s OK to just admit that you’re jealous of me” – but whoever the subject is pales in comparison to the way the song’s brazen grind makes you feel just as unfuckwithable as Charli. The Tortured Poets Department has a handful of moments like this. Guilty As Sin? may make its subject clear from the first line (no prizes for guessing which pop rogue’s favourite band is the Blue Nile) but Swift’s portrait of agonised fantasy over the forbidden while trapped in a stultifying relationship – and trapped in the societal expectations around it – resound with real emotional truth. The unfulfilled yearning is the album’s most convincingly sensual moment – a testament to leaving the picture incomplete.

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Ariana Grande's Nonna Receives Plaque in Honor of Her Record-Breaking Eternal Sunshine Feature: 'Certified with Love'

The pop star's 98-year-old grandmother Marjorie "Nonna" Grande is now the most-senior person to chart on the Hot 100, thanks to her feature on "ordinary things"

Courtesy of Republic Records

Ariana Grande 's grandmother recently made history — and now she has a plaque to show for it!

Several weeks after the pop superstar's beloved 98-year-old grandma Marjorie "Nonna" Grande became the most-senior person to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 , thanks to her spoken-word feature on the eternal sunshine track "ordinary things," she's been gifted a framed plaque to highlight the accomplishment.

The display features a smiling photo of Nonna next to a red vinyl record of her granddaughter's seventh studio album, as well as an image of her song's position at No. 55 on the chart.

"certified with love," reads text at the bottom of the plaque.

Kevin Mazur/AMA2016/WireImage

To celebrate, Nonna took an adorable photo posing with the framed plaque. She was all smiles in the shot and held up the gift in honor of her record-smashing feat while sitting, seemingly due to its sheer size.

Nonna also appeared to wear red lipstick and a red, turtlenecked sweater to match the shade of the Grammy winner's vinyl pressing.

Ariana took to Instagram to share the heartwarming photo of her grandmother and opened up in the caption about how thrilled she was to be able to celebrate her.

The "yes, and?" wrote, "celebrating the one and only, most beautiful Nonna who has now made history for being the senior most person to ever appear on the @billboard Hot100 🥹🥹🌞♡"

"we love and thank you ｡˚❀ 🥹," she added.

"ordinary things" charted on the Billboard Hot 100 immediately after eternal sunshine was released on March 8. It was among the 12 songs from the 13-track LP to appear on the chart once the record dropped and simultaneously debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

The song closes out eternal sunshine and features the 98-year-old lovingly reflecting on her late husband, Frank Grande.

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Although it wasn't the first time she and Ariana collaborated — as she previously spoke on the Yours Truly  track "Daydreamin'" and "Bloodline” from  Thank U, Next — "ordinary things" was the first to credit her as a feature and co-writer.

Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Majorie shattered the Billboard Hot 100 record by taking the title over from the Fred Stobaugh. According to Billboard , the late musician was 96 in 2013 when he was the record holder for writing "Oh Sweet Lorraine," which was performed by Green Shoe Studio featuring Jacob Colgan.

Ariana previously opened up in an interview with Apple Music 1's Zane Lowe about how hearing a "voice note" of her grandmother talking to a friend inspired her to make "ordinary things" the album closer.

"I knew 'ordinary things' was the end of the album," the Wicked star shared. "I was like, 'This is the last song, but I wonder how I can put that button on it and have it land emotionally the way that I feel it can, and how can I answer the question?'"

The "we can't be friends" singer explained that she realized the answer "right smack in the middle" of Marjorie's 30-minute note. "I always record my Nonna because you never know what she’s going to say," she added.

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