Ariana Grande Hopes to Create Comforting Anthems for the LGBT Community
She may have no tears left to cry, but Ariana Grande has no shortage of sweet words for LGBT people.
Commemorating Pride month, Billboard has enlisted various celebrities to pen "love letters" to the LGBT community.
In Grande's candid new letter, the 24-year-old pop star discusses growing up with an older gay brother, social media influencer and recent RuPaul's Drag Race makeover subject Frankie Grande, whom she idolized.
"There is nothing more infectious than the joy and love that the LGBTQ community exudes," writes Grande, whose relationship to the community deepened in 2008 while she appeared in the Broadway musical 13.
"I was taught to do my makeup by queens in gay bars in New York City," she recalls. "I made my Broadway debut at 14 years old and did 8 shows a week but there was never a night I was too tired to run to a gay bar and do a quick Whitney cover before bed."
Grande continues:
My music being embraced and celebrated by the LGBTQ community is all I ever truly cared about when I thought about my career goals early on. There’s no award I could win or accolade I could receive that would fulfill me more than seeing a 6-foot queen with a 4-foot ponytail walk into my meet n greet and say “hey girl” or meeting a young queer person at Starbucks and them letting me know that my music has helped them become who they are. Literally nothing.
Love is like music. It knows no boundaries and isn’t exclusive to any one gender, sexuality, race, religion, age or creed. It’s a freedom and a delicious luxury that all people should be able to sink into and enjoy every moment of.
I am eternally indebted to and inspired by the LGBTQ community. I hope to create anthems for you that wrap you up with comfort and make you get your best life for as long as I live. Thank you for celebrating me the way I celebrate you.
I love you forever.
Grande's current chart-climbing single, “No Tears Left to Cry,” is an emotional tribute to the lives lost last May in a bombing at her Manchester Arena concert. Earlier this week she teased “The Light Is Coming,” a new track featuring Nicki Minaj.
