Ariana Grande is just 25 years old. I remember dealing with plenty of sexism and bullsh-t at that age, early in my career. The fact that Ariana is calling out the producer of the Grammys for misrepresenting the reason why she’s not performing this Sunday is frankly inspiring to me. As background, Ariana is not going to attend Sunday’s Grammy Awards because producers dictated the terms of her performance. They would not let her perform her #1 hit, “7 Rings,” and made demands of her performance which were not required of other artists. They did something similar to Lorde last year, although Lorde was nominated for Album of The Year. So Ari was like “see you, not showing up.” A producer told Variety that Ariana wasn’t going to be there because would not have had enough time to prepare her performance. Ariana just called them out for that by name.
mhmmm here it is ! “too late for her to pull something together……” pic.twitter.com/YwuBOUkZjr
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) February 7, 2019
i offered 3 different songs. it’s about collaboration. it’s about feeling supported. it’s about art and honesty. not politics. not doing favors or playing games. it’s just a game y’all.. and i’m sorry but that’s not what music is to me.
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) February 7, 2019
passed a Grammy’s bus with my face on it typing those.
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) February 7, 2019
hope that helps everyone understand my decision. i am still grateful for the acknowledgement this year. 🖤
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) February 7, 2019
Ariana is going to get dragged for this like so much of what she does. (Sometimes it’s very much deserved.) Just imagine all the little girls who saw her do this. Imagine all the men in power being told this isn’t acceptable, and that we’re going to tell our truth, we’re going to use our platforms and we’re going call them on their bullsh-t. Ariana is definitely flawed and has room for improvement, but she’s trying, she’s living out loud and I appreciate that.
Also she just got even more publicity for new video and album, out today.
photos credit: WENN
I honestly cannot figure out whether I like this woman or not. Just when she does something ignorant or narcissistic — BAMN. Bad ass boss. I guess like Kaiser says, both can be true.
I agree. I think it’s just a symptom of being human, really. She’s young, she’s wealthy and influential… I think it’s somewhat normal for people who have been in the public eye as early as she was to screw up in their late teens and 20s, but she seems to be trying to get it together more and more. I give her all the credit she deserves when she knocks it out of the park – and I think she did that here. It’s so disgusting that they’d just outright lie about her reasoning. I’m so glad she’s not performing let alone going.
She’s young and she has improved a lot. I honestly believe she will grow into an amazing boss woman.
Well, she is just 25. I think that is to be expected. If she’s like this at 25… just wait until she matures even more. Maybe all those other things that drive some people crazy will melt away and she’ll just be even more bad ass in situations like this.
Why do the Grammy get to decide what the artist performs and Ariana had every right to stand up for herself countless men in the music industry do everyday without a peep for socially. Why can’t woman do the same
@Vanessa
100%… I’m glad in this situation she was able to recognize her power and use her voice, first to ask for what she needed as and artist, and afterwards, to set the record straight. I bet guys like him are not used to people not bending backwards for them, specially young women, and i’m glad other youn women can use this scenario as an example how to stand their ground and uplift themselves in similar situations.
Dragged? I seriously hope not. I’m not an Ari fan, but I wanted to give her an ovation for standing up to this man. Dude thought he could boss her around because she’s a young woman, and she told him what he could do with that nonsense attitude.
A NY Tony award winning actors agent once told me, Two organisations not to get on the bad side of…The Grammys and the Academy.
I remember Monique, Academy winner back and forth w Academy.
I love Ariana but this is not being played well PR-wise. I still love her regardless.
The Grammys are overrated at this point. She is one of the most successful music artists in the last 2 years. She will be fine and hopefully more artists will start putting these producers in their place.
Who cares honestly. The Grammys are an absolute joke. Why should young, female artists be bossed around, while male artists are not, all for a stupid trophy that means nothing? Nah, I give her credit here.
The Grammys have been irrelevant for the last five years…when Taylor won album of the year over Kendrick. When Adele won over Beyonce’s far superior album. The grammy’s seem like a bunch of old, white, racist, misogynistic men. I like Ari, and I’m 100 percent in her corner.
I’m liking her more and more. And good on her for doing this. Some older man thought he could put a young woman in her place and she wasn’t having it. I told my 12 YO daughter this story bc I love what AG is doing here so much.
Here’s the thing, the Grammys are becoming irrelevant. They think they still have the power to “you’ll never work in this town again”. Times have changed, for instance most marketing and promotion can be done for free on social media. Look at Chance the Rapper, he didn’t sign to any label! Ari can survive “burning a few bridges” and I hope it empowers others to do the same. You don’t have to play their game!
Agreed. The Grammys have been losing their relevance. My younger cousins don’t even watch them. They see highlights the next day but are u interested. Her target demographic are learning about new artists and producers on social media. She doesn’t need the Grammys. Actually the Grammys need her because her fans will watch her perform. I don’t know why they refuse to realize the game has changed.
Because they are all old white men. Refusing to recognize the game/world is changing is sort of their thing.
Team Ari all the way. At this point, the Grammys need her more than she needs them.
If she wins, she should use it as a doorstop! I can’t see what they could do to her. She’s talented, popular, and successful.
Good for her! I know she has her moments, but I really like her, and I think she’s a really eloquent speaker/writer- much more than she sometimes comes across as or gets given credit for being. I’m really glad she spoke out. They’ll need her more than she’ll need them in future, and maybe next time they’ll treat her a whole lot differently.l
i’m glad she stood up for herself. his comments were condescending and passive aggressive and false. all professional singers with an ounce of talent need to “pull together” a single song for a TV broadcast is a microphone. she has the power and situations like this are EXACTLY when she should wield it.
@Lizzie
Totally agree. She’s definitely one of the few artists that could do a strip down performance and rely on her voice to pull it through.
I’d like to add though, that the dispute as i’ve been reading seems like they were in talks to have her perform, she wanted to do “7 rings” they said no, and later (closer to the date of the Grammys) they went back and said she’d be allowed to do it as a medley, and i think by the sounds of it she wasn’t interested in doing it anymore and decided not to. and then he goes and says those things about her.
The thing is, even if it was true and she would have liked more time to prepare a spectacle of a performance, that’s something you know that producer would have accepted as need/excuse from a male artist. Like i cannot imagine him going on the public record to drag any male that would have said, “hey i would have loved to, but this doesn’t give me enough time to give my fans/the audience the performance i would want.” I really agree with you. I think he did it to absolve himself from the mistake by painting her in a bad light.
They wanted to dictate what else would be in the medley. I’d have walked too. They put her on billboards to sell their show, then tried to boss her around. Naw, dawg.
And it’s not like she needs Grammy anyway, it’s more otherwise.
Literally the only entertaining thing about the Grammys are the performances. I don’t know anyone who still sits down and watches the whole show, but I do know some who look up the performances afterwards (myself included).
It’s a big faux pas on that producer’s behalf. Sure there a tons of artist that would kill to be on that slot, but I agree that it’s the show that needs Ariana (at least this year). No
matter our personal taste in music, we cannot deny how influential and successful she’s been lately, she would have brought them a huge young audience viewership they’ll now struggle for.
So glad she stood her ground as an artist, and used her voice to clear up what seemed to me, an attempt of that producer to kind of throw shade and shame her a bit (trying to insinuate the “difficult” or “demanding” narrative on her) and not accept accountability for his mistake.
They wouldn’t let her perform her #1 hit? I could understand it if she wanted to sing an old song of hers but a song thats a hit right now? And wow with them trying to say she didn’t have time. They’ve been using her face on their Grammy buses clearly they have planned this for some time, they wouldn’t put a random singer on them if that singer wouldn’t show up or entertain. At this point the Grammys needs the artists, the artists doesn’t need the Grammys.
It probably has more to do with the talks of 7 Rings getting sued for copyright infringement for sampling other works without credit – including one from a very litigious creator who just won a similar suit. If she performs that song and a suit goes forward, then the Grammys would have to cut that out for any rebroadcast, streaming, video, clip rights and they could potentially have to pay monies for any of that if left in and for the public performance rights to the other songs. I could see them asking her to play something different for that reason alone.
Mad respect for her boss moves.
I like how she put them in their place TWICE. She was like I want to perform ‘7 Rings’ and backed out after they didn’t agree. Then on top of it, calling out the Dbag producer by name (lol!) to shut down his lies about her being unprepared to pull something together. These old men need to take a seat bc they are losing power and I am here for it. Props to her and other ladies standing up against the music machine lately: Kesha, Gaga on Kesha’s behalf, and also the boss moves T Swift has made for herself. I hope they are reminding women out there it’s time to take a stand for yourself and not put up with BS crap any longer.
You go, Ariana! Awesome of her to stick up for herself, and ridiculous for the Grammys to try to drag down a popular artist who isn’t afraid to speak up. They would’ve never said such things about a man.
She has one of the most amazing voices in the last 100 years. She doesn’t need them at all.