Popular Starbucks order Ariana Grande is in Australia at the moment having finally broken free of the perception that she’s perpetually 16-years-old, allowing her to – in her own words – become who she really are.
Grande, 21, allegedly, has been in the country for the last few days tasked with the unenviable business of ‘doing press’ to promote her second album, My Everything. While it may look to an outsider like an amazing life full to the gunwales with custom cupcakes and yoghurt water, a life spent doing Publicity on both sides of the trench is actually akin to a war of attrition waged daily in a glamorous, blistering spotlight: the movements of every act are negotiated by legion handlers, every question is subject to approval, every angle is vetted so it has the best possible outcome for both parties. Today, Ariana Grande is being drawn and quartered for knowing hers.
Grande has come under intense journalistic scrutiny from several print publications after yesterday committing not unheard of acts of apparently heinous and criminal “diva” behaviour. These include asking for certain topics of conversation to be taken off the table (her late grandfather; her embarrassing history of working with Justin Bieber) and requesting that she only be shot from her left side (feel that, Ariana) under lights befitting her level of stardom [blinding].
Precise details of Grande’s alleged diva antics are sparse. What we do know is that while sitting for a portrait that would’ve appeared in mX newspaper, a publication popular for its usefulness as a barrier between you and the train seat, Grande and her handlers reportedly reviewed and requested that certain photos be deleted – a request refused by the photographer. This then resulted in the cancellation of that portion of the afternoon reserved for pictures, followed by the tearing asunder of all logic and reason.
When told inexplicably by The Herald “she brought the sunshine to Sydney”, Grande replies, “I love the rain, I’m sorry I missed it.” When asked if she has changed at all in the interim since first coming to attention on Nickelodeon and attaining global superstardom, Ariana says she is “wildly different.” Then, when asked if she would like to go back in time to be a 16-year-old again, she replies, “I’m the same. I’m honestly the same.” It’s all very interesting, pretty confusing and very important.