Ariana Grande Gets Real About Her Complicated Relationship To Fame And Her Pop Career

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.

Ariana Grande’s name is an unmistakable one today. Since 2008, the former child star still in the biz has continued to climb the pop charts and box office all while navigating public comments. So, how does she feel about the inner workings of managing her pop career with her acting one? Grande opens up about the complexities of her relationship to her professional successes.

In The New York Times’ interview with the wildly successful triple threat, the Wicked actress got real about how she feels about returning to the top-charting side of her talents. Grande explained that something was askew before hitting Jon M. Chu’s Ozian set, where it recovered with the amount of time spent away. Along with it she shared there’s an unexpected edge to accomplishing hopes by saying:

There was something broken about my relationship to pop music that was healed recently through the time away. . . . I think it got away from me in a way I didn’t expect. There’s a thing that comes along with your dreams coming true that feels dangerous at times.

As the majority of us know the 32-year-old will be starring in one of the biggest sequels on the 2025 movie schedule, Wicked: For Good, which is just a few weeks away. In addition to reprising Glinda, she also released her 7th Studio album, Eternal Sunshine. But in case you missed it, she surprised fans with a 41-stop tour of said album that’s planned for 2026 — something everyone thought she was done with.

It’s always interesting to hear the perspective of anyone who grew up in the industry. The takes always seem to be insightful in a way that really speaks to the experience kid entertainers have in Hollywood. From the outside, watching Ariana Grande continuing to build her career looked as if she was nothing but content. However, being a young skyrocketing artist surely paved the way to have her dreams molded into something else than she expected.

Her undeniable talent certainly cleared the way for her to stardom in multiple realms, starting with her single “Yours Truly.” Since then, everything about her life, from boyfriends to her body, have been up for debate. And yet, as Grande explained, even gearing up for worldwide recognition couldn’t nurse or help guide all that comes with it. It wasn’t until the past few years could she make peace and re-balance the extra baggage, as she said:

Nothing prepares you for what comes with it. Until quite recently, it was really hard for me to navigate and I think it stripped a lot of joy out of this for me.

Realizing stuff like this still regularly happens to artists like Grande, and many females in Hollywood, is wild. Thankfully, it sounds like there’s a stronger grasp and usable tools to keep many of the present inevitabilities at bay. I’m glad that she was able to re-root in her wants and has been having a phenomenal reconnection with it all.

Some of her greatest albums have come post stepping away from singing stardom. The first time around was for the televised Hairspray Live! event and the other Wicked. Sweetener and Eternal Sunshine, respectively, came out after she swapped the studio for the stage. What helped pushed the envelope even further, according to the “thank u, next” singer, since parting ways with previous associates.

And by the way, I have a different team now. Said with love, but that was a piece.

I just love it all for her. She’s made it known that first and foremost, she’s a theatre kid and always imagined to be more or less a comedy Broadway baby. But, as we know, the Nickelodeon-to-popstar pipeline complicated things. So it’s thrillifying that Ariana Grande was able to have Wicked to realign and move ahead, even if it was a ‘tremendous’ undertaking ‘mentally, physically, emotionally.’

It seems like as Grande forges ahead, the previous complications may just smooth out, or at least be a little easier to navigate. She’ll have another go at balancing music and acting since she’ll be in another big sequel on the 2026 movie release calendar, Focker In-Law.