Ariana Grande

Armed with a mesmerising, nimble soprano—and a vocal register often likened to those of Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera—Ariana Grande began her career as a child star on Broadway and Nickelodeon before transforming into a pop and R&B powerhouse. Instantly recognisable thanks to her signature ponytail and breezy self-confidence, Grande, born in Florida in 1993, has developed a slyly sexual personal brand that has, like that of the Spice Girls before her, become an iconic image of young female power. But Grande is more than a symbol: over the course of several albums and scores of hit singles across the genre spectrum—beginning with 2013’s R&B crooner “The Way” (featuring Mac Miller) and continuing through to an EDM collab with Zedd (“Break Free”), slinky retro-soul (“Dangerous Woman”) and diva trap-pop (“7 rings”)—she has consistently outshined her male collaborators and deftly parlayed her stardom into activism. An LGBTQ advocate and outspoken feminist, she has long used her platform to confront misogyny, sexism, homophobia and bullying, spreading a message of love over all. Her Max Martin-produced smash “no tears left to cry”, an escapist dance-floor triumph released a year after a deadly terrorist attack at one of her concerts in 2017, and its subsequent album, Sweetener, sent a message of hope and healing, with a dose of hear-me-roar attitude. Grande’s pop vision has since focused inward, using music as a therapeutic tool for spiritual growth. After experiencing a devastating personal loss with the death of ex-boyfriend Mac Miller in 2018, she re-emerged with 2019’s thank u, next, an elegiac album that was as therapeutic as it was dance-ready, with a title track that sends off ex-lovers with a gentle kiss on the cheek. The following year’s pandemic-written Positions highlights Grande’s mellifluous vocals and her desire to be content in love—even when boasting about her sexual prowess (as on the cheeky “34 35”), the real star of her heart is her own self. And on her lush, auto-fictitious 2024 concept album, eternal sunshine, she glides with a coy smile and a heavenly whistle through the emotions of a woman betrayed, perceived and adored, with a short wave to critics and tabloids on the pulsing house groove of “yes, and?”