Ariana Grande at the Billboard Women In Music 2018. December 6, 2018.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Billboard
Ariana Grande has taken to Twitter to push back on comments made by show producer Ken Ehrlich about a planned performance at the 2019 Grammys.
Grande confirmed that she had entered discussions with the Recording Academy to perform at this year's ceremony, and that the two parties could not reach on a mutual agreement to proceed. However, Grande takes issue with Ehrlich's comments to the Associated Press that she declined to perform because she “felt it was too late for her to pull something together”
“I’ve kept my mouth shut but now you’re lying about me,” Grande wrote in her first tweet. “I can pull together a performance over night and you know that, Ken. It was when my creativity & self-expression was stifled by you, that I decided not to attend.”
The particulars of the negotiations are in dispute. In a subsequent Twitter post, Grande says she "offered three different songs" to perform. However, Variety reports that Grande initially offered to perform "7 rings," which was turned down by the Academy. After a second, unnamed song was proposed and rejected, Variety reports that Grande pulled out. See the tweets below:
The Recording Academy came under fire last year for its treatment and snubbing of female artists. Lorde, who was the only woman nominated for Album of the Year, was the only artist not offered a chance to perform solo during the live telecast. After questioned about a lack of female winners at the 2018 Grammys, Recording Academy President Neil Portnow said it was up to female musicians to "step up" to get a trophy. After a sustained outcry, Portnow declined to renew his contract with the Recording Academy in 2019.
