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Ariana Grande doesn't think that one of her albums got a fair chance upon its release.
The star of upcoming epic musical fantasy, Wicked, was a recent guest on podcast Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, where she claimed that her sixth album, Positions, wasn't well-received upon release. Released in October 2020, Positions was Grande last album months before she wed real estate broker Dalton Gomez, whom she was married to from May 2021 to March 2024. Much of the album lyrically focused on romance and sexuality, but a handful of critics considered Positions one of Grande's weaker efforts. Appearing on Positions were singles "34+35," "POV" and the titular track.
Around the 1:08:00 mark of the Las Culturistas episode, Yang called Positions his "fucking fuck album for the pandemic." Although Grande expressed gratitude for the sentiment, she confessed that when the album was released, "it didn't go so well."
"I just mean as far as like what my fans were saying–and like, as far as whatever–I feel like in the beginning of the Positions of it all, I got a little...I'm not going to like use this word...bullied, but you know, you know," Grande said.
She continued, “I just got like a little bit of 'this is not what we want' vibes, I think. And I remember that really, I'm such a sensitive artist, whatever. This is the point, you put art there so that people can tear it apart and do whatever they want with it, or celebrate it or whatever."
While Grande added that she's "grateful and in acceptance" to be where she is career-wise, that she's a Cancer and "very sensitive." "So I just remember that really like put me in a cage of like judging every single piece," she said.
"I scrapped so many things that I was like gonna put out for it. And now people are just, they love it like it's the best thing I'll ever make. And I'm like, what is that? I'm like, how is that fair?" she asked.
Grande concluded, "But I love them for it and it's okay and it's fine. And it's not mine anymore. And that's the thing that I also have to say because I am aware, it's like a part of it. And I'm grateful for the voices and for the passion. I am, I really am. But I'm also a person."
Positions debuted atop the Billboard 200 upon release, with 174,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. The album preceded Grande's latest album, Eternal Sunshine, which dropped in March.
But elsewhere on Las Culturistas, Grande shared that she's taking a step back from singing entirely to focus on acting.
"I'm going to say something so scary. It's going to scare the absolute shot out of my fans and everyone," Grande warned listeners. "I love them, and they will deal and we will be here forever. I'm always going to make music. I'm always going to go on stage. I'm always going to do pop stuff, I pinky promise, but I don't think doing it at the rate that I've been doing for the past 10 years is where I see the next 10 years."
She continued, "I think I love acting; I love musical theater. Reconnecting with this part of myself...I love comedy and heals me to do that—finding roles to use these parts of myself."
Fans can watch Grande step into her biggest musical role yet as Galinda in Wicked when it arrives in theaters on Nov. 22.
English (US) ·