Ariana Grande's most viral moments of 2023
Ariana Grande has had the wildest rollercoaster of a year in 2023, both in her career and personal life!
The superstar singer and actor had one of her biggest dreams come true when she landed the role of Glinda in the movie version of the famed Broadway musical Wicked!
She's been working on the film for the past few years, and now the finish line is finally within sight.
In terms of personal drama, however, Ariana's year was pretty rough.
She broke up with her husband Dalton Gomez and then immediately started dating her recently separated (well, allegedly separated) Wicked co-star, Ethan Slater.
Public opinion turned against Ari as the internet rallied around Ethan's heartbroken ex and his young child.
Then again, you know what they say: "There's no such thing as bad publicity."
When it comes to Ariana, though, her ride-or-die fans have always got her back – even when the tea is piping hot.
These are Ariana Grande's most viral moments from 2023!
Ariana Grande is over the rainbow about her Wicked role
After landing the role of Glinda the Good Witch in the fall of 2021, the world watched as a newly blonde Ariana slayed the game in a glorious sneak peek into her work on the much-anticipated Wicked movie musical.
A video clip of her hauntingly beautiful voice and show-stopping Glinda costume – a dreamy pink ball gown with sparkly tiara and scepter – went viral.
The 7 Rings singer wasn't posting as much on her socials while filming was going on, but she still managed to give her fans a few photo dumps on Instagram as she posed with her new castmates.
And speaking of her new castmates, we come to the next section...
Ariana Grande's drama-filled love life in 2023
Ari got engaged to Dalton Gomez back in December 2020 with the couple officially tying the knot in a very private May 2021 wedding ceremony.
The pair kept their relationship pretty low-key until divorce chatter started up in April of 2023.
One insider came forward in June claiming that Ari's work on Wicked may have been a contributing factor to the relationship troubles. "The movie has completely taken over her life," the insider said, adding that her multi-year overseas shooting schedule had been "a huge strain" on the couple.
"Her marriage has definitely taken a back seat," they added.
Then in July, inside sources said the superstar singer and her hubby were secretly separated. Later that month, rumors swirled that the pop star and her Wicked co-star Ethan Slater were an item!
After that, Ariana made moves to divorce Dalton Gomez and Ethan filed for divorce from Lily Jay, his wife of five years. Ethan and Lily, who welcomed a baby together just last year, had been high school sweethearts.
Ari is known for whirlwind romances – Pete Davidson, anyone? – but made a conscious effort to take things slower with Ethan after public outcry against their relationship due to rumors of the Wicked stars having potentially been unfaithful to their spouses before officially splitting from them.
Since then, there have been more and more sightings of the new couple and the Bang Bang artist has been seen supporting her boo at his Broadway revival of Spamalot.
Ariana Grande new music chatter in December 2023
Ari's former manager Scooter Braun – yup, the same dude who has epic beef with Taylor Swift – allegedly handled the Ethan Slater media firestorm so poorly that the Positions singer gave him the boot.
The only good thing about that press fiasco is that it gives Ariana plenty to write new music about.
And boy, has she been hinting at some new music!
Despite Ariana spending most of the year telling fans and interviewers that she wouldn't be working on any new music until Wicked was done, the actors' strike seemed to have given her some unexpected downtime.
A huge number of music studio selfies and clips – all strategically muted – posted to Instagram in December got her fans all hyped up.
Basically, it looks like the seventh album could drop any day now!
With new music on the horizon and the release of her blockbuster movie musical Wicked coming up fast, 2024 is set to be the year of Ariana Grande.
Cover photo: Collage: Screenshots/Instagram/@arianagrande