Ariana Grande by Alexi Lubomirski for ELLE US August 2018

Ariana Grande-Butera (born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She began her career in 2008 in the Broadway musical 13, before playing the role of Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon television series Victorious (2010–2013) and in the spinoff Sam & Cat (2013–2014). She has also appeared in other theatre and television roles and has lent her voice to animated television and films.

Grande's music career began in 2011 with the soundtrack Music from Victorious. Since then, Grande has earned three number-one albums on the US Billboard 200 with Yours Truly (2013), My Everything (2014), and Sweetener (2018). She has attained another number-two album with Dangerous Woman (2016), while her upcoming fifth studio album Thank U, Next is expected to be released in 2018. Further, Grande has earned six top-five singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 including "Problem", "Break Free", "Bang Bang", "Side to Side", "No Tears Left to Cry", and the chart-topping "Thank U, Next". Grande is the first artist in the history of the chart to have the lead singles from each of their first four albums debut within the top-ten, and in 2014 continuously charted inside the top-ten for 34 weeks and had the most top 10 singles of any artist that year. Further, she has embarked on the The Honeymoon Tour (2015), and Dangerous Woman Tour (2017).

Critics have compared Grande's wide vocal range to that of Mariah Carey. Her accolades include three American Music Awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards and four Grammy Award nominations. All three of her albums have been certified platinum by the RIAA. She has supported a range of charities and has a large following on social media. In 2016, Time named Grande one of the 100 most influential people in the world on their annual list. In 2018, Billboard named her Woman of the Year.