Ariana Grande shares details of memory loss and “missing a couple of years” from early career: “I’m super serious”
Ariana Grande has opened up about experiencing memory loss, saying she is “missing a couple of years” from her early career.
During a new episode of the SmartLess podcast, the ‘Eternal Sunshine’ pop star and actor explained that certain parts of her younger years remain hazy because she was working too much back then.
“When I was younger and during my first few years as a pop star, I really struggled with boundaries and not being able to say ‘No’ when I needed to if I was running on empty,” Grande recalled.
She gave an example, saying she had difficulty remembering her 2016 appearance on Channel 4 talk show Alan Carr: Chatty Man alongside SmartLess co-host and actor/comedian Will Arnett (BoJack Horseman).
“Wait, no. What weird talk show did we do?” Ariana asked when he mentioned their joint appearance, before eventually remembering the episode. “Oh my God, that’s right. It’s back.”
She continued: “It’s not you. It was the boundaries, remember? It was me. I’m missing a couple of years – I’m super serious – from that time. I’m literally missing a few years.”
Grande went on to explain that she was now surrounded by a team that’s “really protective and amazing”, ensuring she maintained a healthy work-life balance.
“I feel really grateful for the balance that I have found,” she added. “This whole Wicked journey has been quite different for me. And it’s been obviously full steam ahead, but it’s been so beautiful and so fun.”
Listen to the podcast in full here:
In another recent interview, the singer credited her 2019 album ‘Thank U, Next’ with “saving my life” during a dark period following Mac Miller’s death and the terrorist attack at her show in Manchester.
“I was doing so much therapy, and I was dealing with PTSD and all different kinds of grief and depression and anxiety,” she recalled.
Last summer, Grande spoke about how “time and therapy” had helped her to “re-embrace” some of her old songs. “There was a time when it was hard for me to feel that same gratitude that I do now for certain songs and for the music,” she said.
“Because I think some of it was like a stressful time and I think becoming a pop star is insane at 19 or 20, and I think that experience was sort of married to some of the songs a little bit.”
At the end of last year, Grande told fans not to expect her to return with new music “anytime soon”, saying that “acting is feeling like home right now”. Her label had previously confirmed that she would not be hitting the road in 2025, following rumours of an ‘Eternal Sunshine’ tour.
In other news, Grande has explained the “perplexing” changes to her speaking voice – which fans had clocked was higher than normal after she starred in Wicked.
NME gave Wicked a four-star review, writing: “[Cynthia] Erivo and Grande are both vocally extraordinary. Crucially, they also have crackling chemistry punctuated by Erivo’s bursts of intensity and Grande’s slick comic timing.
“By the end, you won’t quite be levitating off your seat but you’ll definitely be enchanted enough to stream the soundtrack on the way home. Funny, colourful and full of empathy for outsiders, this film really is the Shiz.”
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Tom Skinner
NME
