Ariana Grande

Early life

Ariana Grande-Butera was born on June 26, 1993, in Boca Raton, Florida. She is the daughter of Joan Grande, the Brooklyn-born CEO of Hose-McCann Communications, a manufacturer of marine communications equipment owned by the Grande family since 1964, and Edward Butera, a graphic design firm owner in Boca Raton. Grande is of Sicilian and Abruzzese Italian ancestry. She has an older half-brother, Frankie Grande, who is an entertainer and producer. Her family moved from New York to Florida before her birth, and her parents separated when she was eight or nine years old. Grande had a close relationship with her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Grande. At age eight, she sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Florida Panthers' home game against the...

2008–2013: Career beginnings and Nickelodeon

When Grande first arrived in Los Angeles, California, to meet with her managers, she expressed a desire to record an R&B album: "I was like, 'I want to make an R&B album.' They were like 'Um, that's a helluva goal! Who is going to buy a 14-year-old's R&B album?!'" In 2008, she was cast as cheerleader Charlotte in the Broadway musical 13.

Influences

Grande grew up listening mainly to urban pop and 1990s music. She credited Gloria Estefan with inspiring her to pursue a music career after Estefan saw and complimented Grande's performance on a cruise ship when she was eight years old. Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston are her primary vocal influences: "I love Mariah Carey. She is literally my favorite human being on the planet. And of course Whitney [Houston] as well. As far as vocal influences go, Whitney and Mariah pretty much cover it." Grande was also influenced vocally by Destiny's Child, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, and Madonna. She reflected on her childhood by posting videos of herself singing songs from Dion's 1997 album Let's Talk About Love on her social media. Grande...

Musical style

Grande's music is generally pop and R&B with elements of EDM, hip hop, and trap, the latter first appearing prominently on her Christmas & Chill extended play. While consistently maintaining pop and R&B tones, she has increasingly incorporated trap into her music as her career has progressed, thanks to her work with record producer Tommy Brown. She collaborated with Brown on her first six albums and has stated, "One of the things I love most about working with Tommy is that none of the beats he plays me ever sound the same." Grande learned how to sound engineer and produce her own vocals because she "love[s] being hands on" with every project, revealing that rapper Mac Miller first taught her how to use the digital audio workstation Pro...

7 rings

"7 Rings" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Ariana Grande. It was released on January 18, 2019, by Republic Records as the second single from her fifth studio album, Thank U, Next (2019).

The song was written by Grande, Victoria Monét, Tayla Parx, Njomza, and Kaydence, alongside its producers Tommy Brown, Charles Anderson, and Michael Foster, with additional writing credits going to Rodgers and Hammerstein for an interpolation of their showtune "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music.

Background and release

A few weeks prior to the track's release, Republic Records contacted Imagem/Concord Music, who owns the Rodgers & Hammerstein publishing rights, and agreed to give them 90 percent of the song's songwriting royalties, in order to acquire the rights to release the song. Grande first teased the track in the music video for "Thank U, Next", in which the first few seconds of the instrumental are used in the opening sequence, and the license plate of the car she drives reads "7 RINGS". The day after the video was released, Grande confirmed the existence of "7 Rings" and revealed the moment that inspired it on Twitter.

Composition and lyrics

"7 Rings" is a pop, trap-pop, and R&B song with elements of hip hop that runs for 3 minutes, with Grande rapping the hook and final verse. It features a heavy bass and sees Grande discuss "how global success has allowed her to enjoy the finer things". Billboard magazine noted it's "the most hip-hop-leaning song Grande has released in the post-Sweetener era yet, with Grande almost rapping the song's verses".

Critical reception

The song was met with mixed-to-positive reviews. Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos praised "7 Rings," calling it "dangerously fun, and as deliriously intoxicating as the champagne at Tiffany's with all your best bitches." Markos Papadatos from Digital Journal praised Grande's vocals as "smooth and crystalline with a retro vibe to it" and said she has shown "consistency with the radio singles that she has put out, and each song stands out from a sonic and lyrical standpoint. "7 rings" is no different." Jamieson Cox from Pitchfork was mixed in his review, saying the song is "a letdown given all of the hype. This is The Sound of Music's 'My Favorite Things' as flipped by Regina George, and its sneering tone is a far cry from Sweetener's...

Background and reception

Grande shared a preview of the music video on January 14, 2019. The video itself premiered on January 18, 2019, on Grande's YouTube channel. The video features many of Grande's close friends, with whom a shopping trip inspired the song.