During her acceptance of the "Woman Of The Year" award at the Billboard Women In Music event in New York City, Ariana Grande gave a speech that focused on her personal life, the music industry, and her upcoming album.
Grande touched on her difficult 2018, which has included her break-up with Mac Miller and his subsequent death, and the dissolution of her engagement to Saturday Night Live comedian Pete Davidson. “I find it interesting that this has been one of the best years of my career and, like, the worst of my life,” Grande said. “I feel like a lot of people would look at someone in my position right now and think, ‘She’s really got her shit together'... I do, but as far as my personal life goes, I really have no idea what the fuck I’m doing.”
Her speech credited Billboard for hosting an event that "acknowledges how male-dominated [the music] industry is and gives women a moment to be together and fight for more equality." Grande also pledged near her speech's end to channel some of that energy in her personal life: "I look forward to hopefully learning to give some of the love and forgiveness that I’ve given away so frivolously and easily to men in the past to myself hopefully this year.”
Grande gave a notable-if-vague hint on the direction of her new album, which is currently in the works. "If First Wives Club were an album, that's the album." Her performance of her No. 1 hit "thank u, next" on Ellen last month paid tribute to the 1996 film.
Watch Grande's speech above, and her performance of "thank u, next" below.
