Ariana Grande Celebrates Highs and Lows of 2023: “I Feel Softer and Stronger”

On the professional side, Ariana Grande powered through 2023, focusing on finishing her new album AG7. Besides spending a great deal of time in the studio, she also landed the lead role of Glinda the Good Witch in the film version of the hit Broadway musical Wicked. On the personal side, the singer found herself at the center of controversy when she divorced husband Dalton Gomez after two years.

At about the same time of the divorce, Grande started a relationship with actor/singer and Wicked co-star Ethan Slater, who was also married at the time. Not only that, but Slater happened to also star in Wicked. With some suggesting their relationship started before they ended their previous marriages, the singer became the target of cheating rumors.  

Grande recently shared her thoughts on the year and the challenges that came with it. Receiving a great deal of backlash from the rumors, she admitted, “I have never felt more pride or joy or love while simultaneously feeling so deeply misunderstood by people who don’t know me, who piece whispers together and make what they want out of me and their assumptions of my life. I have learned how much more important one of those things is than the other.”

Sharing Love for Her Fans

Although not able to control the rumors, Grande found peace from those who continued to support her, noting she “never felt more tightly held or fiercely protected by those who love and understand me.” She also learned to react “to things that deserve my energy only, and removing and protecting myself from things that do not.”  

[RELATED: Ariana Grande Teases ‘AG7’ in Cryptic Instagram Post: ”See You Next Year”]

While Grande navigated through her emotions during 2023, she took a moment to wish her fans a happy new year and reminded them they are all “loved.” As for herself, she insisted, “I am so eternally grateful for all of the feelings I was lucky enough to feel so deeply this year. … The unfathomably hard ones and the inexplicably happy ones. I feel more human than ever. I feel more deeply than ever. I feel softer and stronger, all at once.” 

Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images for The Recording Academy