On at this time’s (Oct. 18) episode of the Best Pop Stars of the twenty first Century podcast, we attain No. 9 of our record with a teen TV star who confirmed as much as pop music within the mid-2010s already a near-fully fashioned star — and simply continued to get greater and higher, till she got here to outline streaming-era pop stardom. (Learn our No. 9 Best Pop Star essay about Ariana Grande right here.)
Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard employees writers Kyle Denis and Hannah Dailey to speak about how, regardless of not making her correct debut till 2013 — later than another artist in our high 10 — Ariana nonetheless shines as one of many brightest stars of all the century to date. We lay the groundwork with dialogue of her scene-stealing (show-stealing?) flip as Cat Valentine in Nickelodeon’s Victorious, and the way that made her a Gen Z icon even earlier than her pop debut — but in addition how that 2013 bow flew within the face of numerous the assumptions followers had made about her based mostly on her efficiency.
We then get into Grande’s two pop imperial phases — one as a bulletproof high 40 radio hitmaker of the mid-2010s, and one as a defining pop&B albums artist on the flip of the last decade — and the way they have been interrupted by unthinkable tragedy and punctuated by real-life superstar drama that made her one of the crucial headline-capturing artists of her period. We then make the circumstances for her two 2020s albums, dive into the sophisticated and infrequently contentious relationship she has along with her fanbase, and defend “Donutgate” as Ariana as soon as once more merely being forward of her time.
Take heed to our newest beneath, atone for our previous episodes right here, and you should definitely subscribe to Billboard‘s Best Pop Stars of the twenty first Century collection wherever you get your podcasts! (New episodes can be revealed on Wednesday and Friday for the following couple weeks, following the publishing of our Tuesday and Thursday Best Pop Star rankings for that week, earlier than shifting to a once-a-week schedule for the remainder of the record.)
