In Rare Comment on Mac Miller, Ariana Grande Thanks Late Ex For Encouraging Her to ‘Do the Brave Thing’ With Her Music

Ariana Grande made a rare statement about her late ex-boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller, during a live episode of The Hollywood Reporter‘s Awards Chatter podcast on Friday (Dec. 5). The singer credited Miller — who died of an accidental overdose in 2018 at age 26 — for helping her to zoom in on her signature R&B-influenced pop sound.

As seen in a TikTok from the event, while chatting at Chapman University in Orange, Calif., Grande, 32, said Miller encouraged her to mix R&B and pop and “do the brave thing” by taking a chance on her sound. “Yeah, I’ve never said that… it was a great influence and I’m very thanks for that.”

The moderator noted that the first single to spawn from their collaboration was the No. 9 Billboard Hot 100 hit “The Way” from her 2013 debut album, Yours Truly, which earned both singers their first-ever top-ten hit.

“That’s also a part of why I was so eager to ask him [Miller] to be a part of it,” Grande said. “Not only because he was perfect for the song, but I also felt like I had him to thank for finding my sound.” The couple dated from 2016-2018 and also collaborated on his 2016 single “My Favorite Part” and that year’s remix of her song “Into You.”

The pair made their relationship official in 2016, three years after the release of “The Way,” and broke up in April 2018, six months before Miller died of an accidental overdose of alcohol, cocaine and fentanyl. In 2023, on the 10th anniversary of the couple’s first collaboration, Grande reported a clip from the song and paid tribute to Miller in a sweet Instagram message, “the way (feat. mac miller)’ was released 10 YEARS AGO today !! 💘 can’t believe it’s been a whole DECADE (and more) in this road together 🫶 how are u guys celebrating today?”

In addition, to celebrate the 10th anniversary reissue of Billboard 200 chart-topper Yours Truly in 2023, she inserted a subtle tribute to Miller at the end of the YouTube video for the remaster of “The Way,” with a screen that fades to black with the words “Feat. Mac Miller” hanging around in white. In a TikTok Q&A celebrating the album’s anniversary, Grande revealed that the playful video for “The Way” featuring the singer, her dancers and Miller bopping around amid balloons on a bare soundstage, was made independently. “We had no budget, didn’t even tell the label we were gonna do it, made it ourselves,” she said of the clip in which the couple playfully hug and kiss as Grande mouths along to Miller’s verses.

Grande had a lot to celebrate on Monday (Dec. 8), when she scored her second Golden Globe nomination for her work in the Wicked series of movies, for the just-released Wicked: For Good. Grande was honored for her role as Glinda in the Wizard of Oz-inspired movie musical, notching a second straight best supporting actress nod, something she called “definitely just as exciting,” adding “You don’t expect something like this, let alone to happen twice for the same role,” and that the second one feels “kind of blindsiding.”