When Ariana Grande emerged as the main pop girl to watch in the early 2010s, she already had two women whose careers she admired in her corner: Madonna and Beyoncé.
While appearing on a new episode of the Shut Up Evan podcast posted Friday (Oct. 24), Grande revealed how the two icons welcomed her with open arms after her music career first started taking off post Victorious. “I’m very lucky that my idols have been very kind to me,” she began.
“I remember Madonna immediately was very kind,” the Wicked star continued. “I think she was one of the first people to reach out and, like, give me a warm welcome, and it was just really cool. I was overwhelmed by it, because I love her so much.”
Madge would go on to support Ari throughout her career, even recording a voice-over for Grande’s 2018 “God Is a Woman” music video. On the podcast, the R.E.M. Beauty founder also shouted out Mariah Carey — “And then, of course, Mariah,” were her words — as a personal hero who took her under her wing. The pair have since collaborated a handful of times, including on a remix of Grande’s Billboard Hot 100-topping single “Yes, And?”
As for Queen Bey, Grande recalled how the Destiny’s Child alum extended an invitation to meet her in 2013. “Beyoncé had me come visit a music video she was shooting, and I was just there in the corner,” she told host Evan Ross Katz. “I was like, ‘Why am I here?’ It was after I sang ‘Tattooed Heart’ on the AMAs. She invited me to set to visit her, and she just was being kind — she gave me a little bit of advice, and, you know, I asked, but she was so kind.”
“But yeah, I feel like I had people I really looked up to embrace me,” Grande added. “It made me feel safe.”
More than a decade later, and Grande is now arguably in the same league as all of the personal heroes she mentioned. The vocalist has earned two Grammys and six No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, to name just a couple of her successes.
But, as revealed on the podcast, Grande recently considered quitting music. After landed a role in Wicked, she thought that 2020’s Positions would be her last album.
“I didn’t think I was gonna make an album ever again,” she shared. “When I left for London, that was kind of my secret, but I didn’t think I was going to.”
Thankfully, Grande said that playing Glinda in the movies “totally rearranged everything about [her] relationship to creating,” which would inspire her to make 2024 album Eternal Sunshine. She’s now gearing up to go on a mini tour in support of the LP in 2026.
Watch Grande’s full interview on Shut Up Evan above.
