Ariana Grande Honors Her Late Ex-Boyfriend Mac Miller in a Rare Way
Ariana Grande is “extremely appreciative” of Mac Miller’s influence on her career.
The 32-year-old singer and actress has discussed how her late ex-boyfriend, whom she dated from 2016 to 2018, inspired her to create “R+B influenced pop music.” They broke up just four months before he tragically died in September of that year at the age of 26.
Speaking to Chapman University students, Ariana stated, “I’m really thankful for that,” in a TikTok video.
According to the Wicked actress, she followed his suggestion and chose to include the Best Day Ever rapper on her song “The Way.”
She went on to say: “That’s another reason I was so excited to invite him to participate.
“He was ideal for the song, but I also felt like I owed him for discovering my voice.”
Over the years, Ariana has honored Miller, who overdosed in 2018.
“I believe that music was the most important thing to him ever,” she said in an interview with Apple Music in 2020. Upon waking up, he was the type of person who would roll out of bed, crash into the studio next door, and roll into the studio.
Nothing held greater significance. Remind yourself to take care of yourself and be a person when you talk about losing track of time and forgetting to eat.
“He was a person who dedicated the entirety of his life, time, and thoughts to his music.”
His “many incredible and different bodies of work” were another example Ariana cited.
“It must be,” she continued, “because it’s such a lovely gift that I believe he kind of touched the world with, and I believe the thing he would want most is for us to simply appreciate it and remember it.”
Though their relationship wasn’t “perfect,” she still believed he was “the best person ever,” she had previously acknowledged in her reflections on the loss she felt after he went away.
In 2019, she said, “It’s pretty all-consuming,” to Vogue magazine.
“What we had was, like, f***, but it was by no means ideal. He wasn’t deserving of his demons; he was the greatest person ever.
For so long, I was the glue, yet I saw that I was getting less and less sticky. The pieces simply began floating away.
