The first time Ariana Grande cried on Friday night at Madison Square Garden was a little before the halfway mark of her show.
It was just after she performed “The Way,” her jaunty 2013 debut single and the song that initiated her rescue from purgatory as a Nickelodeon actress. Sitting at the top of the stairs onstage, surrounded by her dancers, she was thanking the sold-out crowd, which was screaming more than listening, which only made her cry more.
Ms. Grande was probably ruminating on the fact that, had a few things gone a bit differently, she might still be trapped inside Cat Valentine, her old Nickelodeon character, far from stages like this. As recently as nine months ago, new episodes of her show “Sam & Cat” were running, but even then, Ms. Grande was determinedly stomping all over that part of her life.
And now she is the princess of pop, unfettered by old images and obligations. She did it with a combination of exceptional voice, exceptional pluck and an exceptional sense of which hole in the marketplace she could exploit. Her music, as heard on two impressive albums — “Yours Truly” from 2013, and last year’s “My Everything” (both on Republic) — uses the framework of sultry 1990s R&B and applies a sweet, demure sheen to it.
Ms. Grande turned 21 this year, but thanks to her prior career, and to her not-quite-risqué sound, much of her fan base is young. At Friday’s show an overwhelming part of the crowd was made of up mothers accompanying gaggles of girls, underscoring the tension between Ms. Grande’s mature subject matter and the tender ears absorbing it.
The lies. As the so-called new "princess of pop", she has yet to create an iconic music video. That's going to be hard as she always comes across stiff and cold.
That cloud is so Damn ugly. But I think In due time she will be as successful as the former pop princess Mariah Carey.
Mariah got 4 No.1s just from her debut, Ariana will probably get 4 in her career. Ariana is the princess of pop atm, but Mariah wipes the floor with Ariana in every aspect of her career.
Mariah Carey started with a 9x platinum, which she then followed with 8 additional albums which have been certified triple platinum or better. Ariana has nothing compared to that, not even remotely close. All that she has is some nice streaming results. But nobody is buying her music - literally. And she is massively benfitting from the novelty act popularity. On the first 5 singles by Mariah, which all became #1 singles, she was the lead artist of all of them and only featured one other - then unknown - artist on the fifth #1 single (Trey Lorenz).
I can understand why Britney is often credited as THE pop princess, she can back that title up with outstanding albums and singles sales and huge pop culture impact. Ariana has had no impact whatsoever yet, and how could she as someone who looks and sounds like the veterean icon she is trying to emulate.
Times are different now. NO ONE goes multi-platinum with their debut albums now. She is lacking in impact but give her a few more albums and she is gonna be one of the top stars in the world.