For context, Ariana split from ex-husband Dalton Gomez in 2023 after two years of marriage. Shortly after news of the breakup hit, it was reported that Ariana was dating her Wicked costar, Ethan Slater — who was married to high school sweetheart Lilly Jay when shooting began.
In a new interview with Zach Sang, Ariana spoke about some of the details of her album Eternal Sunshine, which is out on March 8. It’s her first album since 2020’s Positions, and draws its name and overall themes from the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
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When asked what the “hardest part” about her recent life was, Ariana replied, “I don’t know. I feel very thankful to be so artistically fulfilled at the moment, and personally, [I’m] floating along. I can’t complain. I wouldn’t feel right [to].”
Zach then commented on the “darkness” that can come along with happiness, noting that Ariana’s upcoming album is “talking to people who have come to their own conclusion.” Ariana emphasized that the album was for her “fans,” adding, “The thing is that, we know this about the tabloids and about the media. Am I crazy? Don’t we know this?”
“We selectively remember that this is what the tabloids do to people, especially women, based on whether or not we like the person,” she continued.
“We selectively leave space for humanness, for nuance,” she added. “[The media leaves space for] their friends and family, but they turn it off when that aligns with the version of a person that they have in their head that they want to believe is true.”
“I’m not saying this for them. I’m saying this for my fans, for myself,” she said. When asked if there was anything she wished people knew, Ariana added, “Plenty. We don’t have enough time.”
She explained, “We don’t need to go into any specifics, but of course there’s an insatiable frustration, inexplicable hellish feeling, watching people misunderstand the people you love, and you.”
When asked whether the new album might quieten some of the speculation, she responded, “I hope so. I think it does. I think it’s the absolute worst idea. Pieces of it touch on things that are real and then pieces of it are part of the concept. So what is that separation? It’s scary to leave it up to these selective memory people to decipher.”
Part two of the interview, where they discuss each track of Eternal Sunshine, will be out March 8 on Amazon Music’s Twitch page.