Ariana Grande gave a sweet shoutout to ex Ricky Alvarez during her Everlasting Sunshine Tour stop in Austin, Texas, changing the lyrics to one in every of her hit tracks.
As an alternative of singing, “Wrote some songs about Ricky, now I listen and laugh,” Grande, 33, belted out, “Wrote some songs about Ricky, know he still got my back,” while performing “Thank U, Next” on Friday, June 26.
Alvarez, for his part, was within the VIP audience on Friday in the course of the performance. He was seen smiling as Grande swapped the lyrics, per a video captured by a fan.
Grande and Alvarez, 33, were first romantically linked in 2015 before parting ways the next yr. In 2018, Grande dropped her “Thank U, Next” track, referencing a lot of her former flames including Alvarez, Big Sean, Pete Davidson and the late Mac Miller. (Miller died in 2018 of an accidental overdose. He was 26.)
While talking about her Thank U, Next album in 2019, Grande shared Alvarez’s response to being featured within the song.
“Ricky loved it. He was proud. But Ricky was like, ‘Why did I get the worst line?’ And I used to be like, ‘What do you mean?’ He was like, ‘Everyone else’s line is so nice and mine is like, Man f*** him, he’s trash.’ I used to be like I could have said that,” Grande recalled during her appearance on the Zach Sang Show on the time.
She continued, “I could have said, ‘Wrote some songs about Ricky, never mind he’s trash.’ I used to be like, ‘I could have said that, but I didn’t.’ I said, ‘Now I listen and laugh.’ Since it didn’t work out.”
Grande, for her part, has most recently been linked to Wicked costar Ethan Slater. After meeting on set of the Blockbuster hit in 2023, the twosome began dating before news broke earlier this month that the pair called it quits.
Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater’s private split was removed from dramatic. “After their press tour [for Wicked: For Good] died down, they’d been spending more time apart than usual,” a source exclusively shared with Us Weekly of what led to the demise of the pair’s relationship. “They each agreed they wanted various things and […]
“It’s amicable. They gave a number of time and careful consideration and decided to go their separate ways,” a source told Us Weekly about their split. “They’re still friends and really supportive of each other. They’ve been quietly broken up for several months.”
The insider shared that Grande “is doing great” and has been “focused” on her Everlasting Sunshine Tour and “upcoming recent album,” Petal.
A separate source told Us that Grande and Slater had been “spending more time apart than usual” after their press tour for Wicked: For Good.
“They each agreed they wanted various things and had been working through what the long run holds together,” the insider shared, noting that there continues to be admiration between the exes. “They each care about one another and hoped things would work out.”