Guys, Ariana's collabs aren't random. What do Macy Gray, Nicki Minaj, Asap Ferg, Big Sean, Childish Gambino, Future, The Weekend etc. have in common?
other than all being black
She always collabs with people who have listeners outside her demographic, that's the point of a collab. Throughout the years her team has successful managed to market her as a legitimate popstar due to these collabs. I was actually on r/hiphopheads on reddit and they were talking about Let Me Love You and saying Ariana is the best pop star, and they actually think her music is decent etc. They would never say those things about Demi or Selena, because Ari's managed to capture their attention via her collabs and urban leaning sound.
There is a reason Love Me Harder, The Way, Right There, Focus (
), Problem etc were all able to go top ten or even #1 on rhythmic radio, while Taylor, Demi and Selena struggle to go top 20 with their biggest hits.
Except with The Weeknd, she's yet to have another great duet. The worst is on her pop/rnb songs : Mac Miller, Lil Wayne and Big Sean are really useless on the songs they feature 
