Ariana Grandegave a sweet shoutout to ex Ricky Alvarez during her Eternal Sunshine Tour stop in Austin, Texas, changing the lyrics to one of her hit tracks.
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Instead of singing, “Wrote some songs about Ricky, now I listen and laugh,” Grande, 33, belted out, “Wrote some songs about Ricky, know he still got my back,” while performing “Thank U, Next” on Friday, June 26.
Alvarez, for his part, was in the VIP audience on Friday during the performance. He was seen smiling as Grande swapped the lyrics, per a video captured by a fan.
Grande and Alvarez, 33, were first romantically linked in 2015 before parting ways the following year. In 2018, Grande dropped her “Thank U, Next” track, referencing many of her former flames including Alvarez, Big Sean, Pete Davidson and the late Mac Miller. (Miller died in 2018 of an accidental overdose. He was 26.)
While talking about her Thank U, Next album in 2019, Grande shared Alvarez’s reaction to being featured in the song.
“Ricky loved it. He was proud. But Ricky was like, ‘Why did I get the worst line?’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He was like, ‘Everyone else’s line is so nice and mine is like, Man f*** him, he’s trash.’ I was like I could have said that,” Grande recalled during her appearance on the Zach Sang Show at the time.
She continued, “I could have said, ‘Wrote some songs about Ricky, never mind he’s trash.’ I was like, ‘I could have said that, but I didn’t.’ I said, ‘Now I listen and laugh.’ Because it didn’t work out.”
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Grande, for her part, has most recently been linked to Wicked costar Ethan Slater. After meeting on set of the Blockbuster hit in 2023, the twosome began dating before news broke earlier this month that the pair called it quits.
“It’s amicable. They gave lots of time and careful consideration and decided to go their separate ways,” a source told Us Weeklyabout their split. “They are still friends and very supportive of one another. They have been quietly broken up for several months.”
The insider shared that Grande “is doing great” and has been “focused” on her Eternal Sunshine Tour and “upcoming new album,” Petal.
A separate source told Us that Grande and Slater had been “spending more time apart than usual” after their press tour for Wicked: For Good.
“They both agreed they wanted different things and had been working through what the future holds together,” the insider shared, noting that there is still admiration between the exes. “They both care about each other and hoped things would work out.”
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This story was originally published June 28, 2026 at 9:58 AM.