holy shit balls i go thru so many phases of deleting and redownloading socials. socials & i have a hella love/hate relationship but on this particular day of march 25, 2023, venturing onto ig made my heart swell with so much love. my babes informed it's been 10 years officially since "the way" was released with so many stunning visuals and fan art and i ... cannot be more thankful, grateful, or filled with more love. it's been one helluva journey with so many twists, turns, bumps, and full on derailments than i ever anticipated, but i would not be the alien elf disguised as a humanoid i am today without said wild ass journey. feeling sm love and sending sm love. grateful that the 14 year old who came to la wanting to make an r&b album and being laughed at is where she is today. she's making the music she always wanted to make with no limitations and under her own circumstances. here's to the last 10 years of living in the studio, working with my incredibly talented and incredibly driven peers, hurting and having music as an outlet for healing, here's to u, tiny, for having a dream and working your ass off! :)

yours truly i don't enjoy classifying my work "eras", but i'd be lying if i said "yours truly" wasn't the beginning of an era. she walked so the music u are hearing today could run. without her i wouldn't be where i am today. instead, i like to view her as a beginning chapter. i will never forget reworking this album over and over and over for a whole three years. the NANO second harmony samuels played jordin sparks' "the way" demo i literally had a meltdown (in the best of ways). i NEEDED it. it fueled an entire rework session of changing my full doo-wop album into a 90's r&b album and thus with a lil sugar, spice, and everything nice "yours truly" was born. i cried like a baby when she hit #1 on itunes. she is and will forever be my first child, something so, so special to me. she was there for me through my first heartbreak, and finding my first real love. she gave me my first ama's performance, first debut tour (shout out listening sessions), first placement on the billboard 200, & a full circle moment having "popular song" on this album thanks to my beautiful friend MIKA ... galinda couldn't be more proud !

my everything i'm absolutely not going to bore u with a whole breakdown of each album but rather some lil things that makes each album an important milestone for me! my everything was the beginning of a time where i was able to express myself more, introduce who ari was vs the artist formerly known as Cat Valentine. it was both an exciting n intimidating time for me as an artist stepping out into my own vs how i was perceived for years. she was expressive, she was fun, she was flirty, she gave me my first arena tour (!), introduction to the HELLA brilliant max martin (!!!) & first grammy nom (!!!!! - 21 year old ari before she was jaded by how corrupt the music industry can be). she gave me some of the litest visuals i've ever recorded at the time, and also some songs i'd be fine never having to perform again in this lifetime or the next 69 (looking at u bang, bang). she let me spend time with my literal childhood idol imogen heap (crying thinking about this all over again?) and receive the truest, sincerest, best advice my grandpa could have ever given me before his passing:

"don't let them challenge you, don't let them intimidate you & you do your thing" -frank grande

i carry these words with me everywhere i go from my guardian angel, my inspiration, my everything.

dangerous woman lemme introduce y'all to the one, the only, the legendary latex bunny eared baddie *intro music here of ur choosing* the DANNNNNGEROUUUSSSSS WOOOOOOMAANNNNNN! dangerous woman is not afraid to take a stand, be herself, to be honest. in 2023 i am finally revealing who is underneath the mask of dangerous woman? are u ready? it's none other than ... marjorie "nonna" grande! deadass? dangerous woman was heavily inspired by the hardworking badass grande women as a whole. my nonna, my mom, my cousin lani, and my late aunt judy.

"they said, 'you are a savage and dangerous woman.' i am speaking the truth. and the truth is savage and dangerous"
this album was also a product of 300 rewrites. listen ... i know i'll always feel partial to every body of work that i create but this was the first album i fully felt was the most freeing. i was able to talk about what it means to be a woman: sexual, sensual, empowering. like, i cannot express to you how liberating it felt to not compromise myself anymore. dangerous woman allowed me to be the unapologetic 22 year old i was, which meant being myself and not having an identity crisis over the music i was expected to put out vs what i wanted to put out. dangeorus woman gave me sm perspective on the path i wanted to take my career down and she gave me snl. and when i say snl was the HIGHLIGHT of my life ... i mean every WORD. a dream. an aboslute dream that dangerous woman granted me. thanks to her i continue to ask myself "what would that bad bitch super bunny do"? & let her call the shots. whenever you find yourself in a tough spot i will forever encourage you to ask yourself the same, we all have that inner dangerous woman ready to take on any and all obstacles in our way. & you have a super badass latex outfit to lube yourself in on the way to defeat said obstacles (no joke, don't forget the lube)

sweetener my sweet, sweet sweetener. have u ever swung yourself upside down on your couch and put your feet where your head should be and your head where your feet should be? or did misha lambert and i have too much time in our youth in boca? in between the laughing at our triple chins & hair sweeping the floor i remember the blood rushing to our heads creating a pressure that took a solid 5 mins to shake even finally getting upside right. there was a time in my life where i felt upside down on the couch again except no matter the position-upside right, walking, standing, working, sleeping-the pressure in my head still remained.

i spent many moons in therapy during this time trying to decompress my brain, soul, and heart. to feel normal again, to feel like my blood was circulating throughout my entire body again. then i started writing again & whew ... the blood flow, the tear flow and the word flow was real. creating sweetener was the most me an album has ever felt, it felt super close to home because it was like coming home. but, like, coming home to my body, where i was floating above her for a long time. in therapy, you learn new ways of coping with things and for me, pharrell helped me explore new ways to use my voice to produce something i never had before in order to cope with coming back to reality in a time where a lot of things didn't feel real to me for a while. i was so grateful to explore the sweetener journey with all 3 of my producer camps: pharrell, tommy/vic, & ilya/max ... all of which brought different productions to the table in creating this cloudy rainbow land and helped me fulfull this hunger of wanting to make something i hadn't before, that had never been done before. and what an experience it was doing something new and from a new point of view where i was in complete control of everything and felt back in control of my brain. from the 4000 layers of harmonies to maxing out stacks in protools for gws to deciding "i'm gonna make the cover upside down because 1. that's how i feel and 2. people are gonna fucking hate that so i'mma do it anyway", staying up until 6 am doing my own vocal arrangements for the first time ... just, so much to this journey that means so much to me. & now i'm crying & now i'm going to move on but just know this was a beuatiful cloudy time in my life that blossomed into a rainbow and i loved every step of the way. p.s. my grammy sits in a closet in one of my houses in a box of yarn

thank u, next unarguably the most chaotic and healing time in my life. thank u, next feels like sweetener's older, protective sister. while sweetener was finding her way and learning the ropes of personal growth and healing, thank u, next was like "hey bitch don't worry, i got u." thank u, next was the product of surrounding myself with my favorite people doing my favorite things, causing chaos, being chaos, making mistakes, learning to practice more self love and care more carefully. i learned grief is not linear, you can be at stage 1, to 3, to 5, back to 2, back to 1 and so on and so forth. i learned that while being drunk for 6 months straight off veuve clicquot with your best friends is fun, you've gotta remain productive. i've never been more grateful to use music as an outlet for what was going on in my heart, mind, soul. i've never been more grateful to surround myself with people who love me for me no matter if i'm having a good day, or a bad day, to let me be me in any state that i was of just being. there are approximately 1000 songs sitting on a hard drive in a folder inside another folder with a troll under a bridge guarding it w 20 riddles that came from this time in my life and just ... having fun? living, breathing, hurting, healing, all with my favorite humans. no one else i would want to spontaneously dance to a mariachi band with in my backyard at 3 am than these ppl that helped make thank u, next everything she is and continues to be. ain't got nuffin more to say than i hope she feels like a hug everytime you listen to her, cause she felt like the big ass bear hug i needed during that time creating her

positions positions feels like everything i have done in my career has led up to her, she's the product of all the growth i have experienced over the years whether it be sonically, lyrically, vocally, personally, professionally, all of the above n then some. i didn't intend on making & releasing an album during the pandemic but as u all may or may not know, my ass doesn't know how NOT to work. and wanna know the best part? positions came from a nicely healed place, 2 years after thank u, next, a whole new chapter. she had the good vibes i couldn't possibly keep to myself. she's orchestrial, vocal, loving, inviting, sexy, honest. she's a vocal reflection of bits and pieces of parts of my life, the vulnerable parts & the fun parts and a perfect reflection of my humor. she encompasses the me i am today ! the me who wouldn't be here without the talented humans who held my hand through it all. i made this album in my new home studio in the comfort of my onesies and myron underneath my feet, a cozy ass mental and physical place. i'm glad she's the legacy i will leave y'all with for the next few years, she's the most me i've ever felt in a long, long time

what were u doing ten years ago? or if your brain is as tired as mine, what ab ten mins ago?

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what's been your biggest accomplishment? professionally or personally !

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what song of mine are u? this is the most absurd/vain/ridic q i've ever asked and ever will ask

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my inner dangerous woman issa badass latex bunny baddie, what does your inner dangerous woman wear?

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who/what is making ur life pretty damn sweet(ener) rn?

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what was/is your fav thing from 2013? song/book/movie/pop culture event/NASA discovery/anything under the moon !

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hi i missed u, do you want a dm? w: arigrande t: aripotter

a big ass thank you ! thank you for taking this trip down memory lane with me, bbluvs. there's SOOOO many pitstops and side streets we didn't even get to turn down ! these last ten years have been filled with hella ups n downs but i am forever grateful music has been there for me as a theraptuic outlet for my growth and healing. huge, huge, huge shoutout to everyone who's been on the ride, both my family & my chosen family: my boca bffs, my stu crew who continue to help me make smashes (vic, tommy, tayla), my tour crew (shout out to the twins who have been here since before the pyhu days YIKES ! ikyk and if you don't i'm not telling you what that means), my talented peers i adore working w (hi abel, hi troye !) i'm so priviledged to get to share these pieces of me and these things with all of you through such a beautiful artform. i am also grateful i have discovered outlets outside of my comfort zone, outside of music, that have led me down new long winding paths i am still navigating and exploring. but she's a path w beautiful scenery and i'm having the time of my life.

so yo, my name is ari, the woman behind Ariana Grande, i'm a nerd, i love mario kart, i'm made of 60% veuve clicquot, some may still think i'mma font or a starbucks drink, but i am a musician, an actor, a writer, a dancer, a vocal arranger, a dog mom, an editor, a friend, a sister. above all, i am a humanoid (and part alien elf) who has the privilge to wake up every day, getting to do things that i love. thank you for singing with me the last 10 years. can't wait to visit the last 10 years in another 10 years (u know what i mean) and see where we all are. sometimes you just gotta wake up with a sigh of relief n say "i'm really that bitch, huh?" say it with me