After releasing her album sweetener, and announced the as-to-be-expected sweetener tour – Ariana Grande did something highly unusual.
She dropped a second album: thank u, next, which was considered a stand-out by pretty much everyone. Pitchfork praised it as 'pop perfection' it. Rolling Stone called it her best album yet. When songs of the album claimed the number 1, 2 and 3 spots on the Billboard chart, she was the first artist to achieve such a feat since the Beatles. That actually makes her the only solo artist ever to achieve this feat.
The tour quickly got the '+ thank u, next' suffix added to its name – and she hit the road, including the prestigious spot of headlining Coachella, where she "continues to rewrite the rule book for pop stardom" in the words of Billboard magazine.
Her set on tour is described as to include stunning visuals and vocals and the Washington Post stated that "Ariana Grande reached the height of her fame by making heavy feel light" – of course referring to her dark journey leading up to the release of her two albums.
Her talent has always been undeniable, but it was her story that made the whole industry completely awed by this young woman's strength and stride – and the whole world fall in deep deep love with her, and continue to root for her to do well in life and on her music journey.
As Live Nation put it, after having completely sold out all of her London shows due to "exceptional demand", they were forced to add more dates in October since the original August run of three shows was clearly not enough for the London based public.
All of that aside, we just wanted to wish a very happy birthday to this amazing artist.
