Quick, think of some famous singers! Who comes to mind? Some may say Taylor Swift. Billie Eilish might be a common answer as well. However, one person that will definitely be mentioned more than a few times is none other than the five foot legend herself, Ariana Grande. You might walk around catching yourself humming one of her catchy hit songs, or even watching Victorious and admiring the comedic persona of Cat Valentine. No matter how you know Ari, the important thing to do is learn about what got her on to this path of fame in the first place. What led up to her most recent album debut, positions? Well let’s start at the beginning…

Born June 26th, 1993 in Boca Raton, Florida, the queen herself came to be. Also commonly referred to as Little Red, Grande at a young age was musically inclined. With Judy Garland being her role model, Grande entered show business with strong intentions. Her first big break was in 2008. At just 15 years, she landed herself a role on Broadway, playing Charlotte in the production of 13. Critics were so blown away by the talent presented in this young girl, that Ari won the National Youth Theatre Association Award. 

As for her acting, Ari made sporadic appearances on television, commonly playing smaller characters. However, her most renowned role was the bubbly, cheerful and at times ditzy red-headed girl named Cat Valentine on the hit Nickelodeon series, Victorious. The series was a major success, and through all the hard work put into producing the show, she still managed to incorporate her love for singing into her life and her work. The character, Cat Valentine, would occasionally sing catchy songs throughout the show with her co-stars Elizabeth Gillies and Victoria Justice, to name a few. 

Unfortunately, Victorious came to an end in 2013, but Grande’s character did not come to a full close. She proceeded onto the spin-off show Sam & Cat. Though the show was short lived, Grande still managed to make the best of what she had. 

Around this time, Grande’s music career began to skyrocket due to her newly gained fame from her TV roles. Soon, Grande released her debut album Yours Truly, including some of the songs, “The Way,” “Baby I” and “Right There.” Here we got to see the more mature Grande and her voice becoming something even more special. 

In 2014, her next album was released called My Everything and it debuted at number one, selling just over 169,000 copies in its first week! This album included some songs like “One Last Time” and “Break Free.” Specifically, the single “Problem” featuring Iggy Azalea preceded the album release and debuted at number 3 on Billboard’s Hot 100, selling just over 400,000 copies upon its release! Additionally, many of her other songs included in the album also started to climb the charts. She had three hit songs from her album on the Billboard chart at the same time.

 Unfortunately, on May 22, 2017, a tragedy occured when a bomb was set off at one of Grande’s concerts in Manchester, England, killing 22 people and wounding 116. Many children and young adults were especially harmed during this bombing. Devastated, not only did Grande visit many of the wounded victims, but she also returned on the charts in April 2018 with her hit song “No Tears Left to Cry,” a catchy upbeat response to the horrific bombing.

The success of her new album, Sweetener, led to Ari’s first grammy win for Best Pop Vocal Album in February 2019. She even became the youngest performer to headline Coachella, and just the fourth woman to ever earn the honor. 

Though 2020 had very difficult circumstances, Grande still managed to release two songs titled “Stuck With U ” ft. Justine Beiber and “Rain on me” with Lady Gaga. Furthermore, she then released her third album in just two years, named positions in October 2020. The album received many positive reviews and was definitely a light during the dark times occurring last year.

So, let’s wrap up some of Grande’s major accomplishments. She has won six iHeartRadio music awards, five MTV Video Music Awards and three American Music Awards. She also earned 12 Grammy nominations and succeeded with one win. She is still on the screen, making small appearances on shows like Scream Queens in 2015 and Zoolander 2 in 2019. 

When not performing, the pop star stands in support of many worldwide issues and charitable causes including Kids Who Care, and a group she co-founded that raises money for charities in the South Florida region. We can imagine that she also spends quality time with all nine of her furry friends. Along with these wholesome activities, Ari also has a huge social media presence with 224 million followers just on her Instagram. Using this platform, she speaks out about many important issues and educated many of her followers on how they can help make a difference in such a dark world. 

In addition to her musical and acting projects, Grande has even launched fragrances that can be bought at places like Ulta Beauty, Walmart and even Amazon!

Looking back through the early years of Ari, it is quite interesting to see how much she not only grew as a celebrity, but as a person as well. It is clear she became comfortable in herself and voice. Even through the traumatic events, Grande has remained to be a light for many people during their darkest times. Being such a role model to many, it is only appropriate that we end this article off with one of Ari’s most empowering quotes. Grande says, “I’ve never looked at love as something that I need to complete me. I would like to be complete on my own first and fall in love with somebody who is also complete. You can still celebrate and be totally obsessed with each other, but I want to feel a hundred percent myself so that I can love that person better.”