On Tuesday, reports hit that Ariana Grande, who was scheduled to be one of the centerpiece performers at this Sunday’s Grammy Awards, was backing out of the ceremony and not attending the event at all after being treated rudely by the show’s coordinating producers.
Now, just hours before the release of Thank U, Next, Grande’s follow-up to her acclaimed 2018 record, Sweetener, she has broken her silence on the Grammys debacle exactly how you’d expect a digitally savvy millennial to. The “God Is a Woman” singer tweeted a rebuke to an article she disagreed with by taking a screenshot of a pertinent passage and adding her response.
Subscribe to Observer’s Entertainment Newsletter
In a new interview with AP News, Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich claimed that the reason Grande wouldn’t be performing at the proceedings was because she was unprepared.
“As it turned out when we finally got to the point where we thought maybe it would work, she felt it was too late for her to pull something together for sure,” Ehrlich said. “And it’s too bad. She’s a great artist. And I’d love to get her in the show this year.”
Grande, however, was not having it.
https://twitter.com/ArianaGrande/status/1093627215600734208
Grande also directly denied Ehrlich’s suggestion that she hadn’t provided ample material for the Grammys producers to choose from.
https://twitter.com/ArianaGrande/status/1093627572598988800
This year’s Grammys are shaping up to be slightly scant when it comes to collective megawatt star power. For a variety of reasons, it’s very likely that Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Kanye West and Drake won’t attend the proceedings, which will be hosted by Alicia Keys and include performances from Dolly Parton, Kacey Musgraves, Jennifer Lopez and Katy Perry (unless they, too, cancel).
Grande’s star has risen astronomically within the past year, and so, as many of her fans have pointed out in her mentions, the Grammys needed her presence a lot more than she needed that particular platform to boost her visibility.
https://twitter.com/ArianaGrande/status/1093628016398221312
Whether Grande and Ehrlich will make up remains to be seen, but we are certain of one thing: When Thank U, Next hits the airwaves tonight, it should be chockfull of bangers.
