\n\t\t\tTrending on Billboard\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
\n\tAriana Grande addressed her decision to step back from public life directly to fans during her Eternal Sunshine<\/em> Tour stop in Chicago on Monday night (Aug. 3), pushing back on the idea that outside criticism had driven the choice.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tExplore\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n \t\t\t\t\tAriana Grande\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThe speech followed a statement issued by a representative for Grande on Sunday (Aug. 2), first reported by People<\/em>, confirming she will take a break from public-facing work once the tour wraps Sept. 1 \u2014 and that she has withdrawn from a planned West End revival of Stephen Sondheim\u2019s Sunday in the Park With George<\/em>, in which she was set to star opposite her Wicked<\/em> co-star Jonathan Bailey.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n \t\t\t\t\tBuffalo Traffic Jam Talks Capturing a Transformative Year on Its ‘Audible Photo Catalog’ of a Debut Album, ‘Pictures\u00a0of\u00a0You’\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \t\t\t\t\tDavid Z, Grammy-Winning Producer Who Helped Prince’s Early Career, Dies at 78\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \t\t\t\t\tShakira & Burna Boy’s ‘Dai Dai’ Dominates Global Charts, Morgan Wallen, KATSEYE Debut in Top 10\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n\tOnstage, Grande told the crowd she wanted to speak for herself. \u201cSometimes when a story comes out that\u2019s not directly from me, things can get a little blown out of proportion,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I just wanted to speak to my fans directly tonight because I love you so much.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tShe was explicit that the decision predated the recent commentary. \u201cThe announcement that was made yesterday was not a reactive or impulsive thing,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is something that I had decided. It\u2019s a plan that I had quietly made a long time ago, and it\u2019s a decision that was made from a thoughtful and empowered place.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tGrande also directly countered the suggestion that negativity had soured her experience. \u201cI heard that my fans were worried that negativity was ruining things for me, but I just have to say that could not be more the f\u2013k opposite,\u201d she said. \u201cNothing has been ruined. Multiple things can be true at the same time. Boundaries can need to be set. Human beings can need a break sometimes. And also, this can be and will continue to be the greatest experience of my professional and creative life.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tShe closed by framing the tour and her new album as the parts she intends to keep. \u201cThe rest of that s\u2013t is not mine to carry, so I don\u2019t carry it,\u201d she said, calling the run \u201cthe most healing, beautiful, corrective, magnificent, special experience of my life, and so has putting out Petal<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe remarks land days after Petal<\/em> arrived July 31. The album\u2019s lead single, \u201cHate That I Made You Love Me,\u201d debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 \u2014 her 10th career leader, tying her for the 10th-most No. 1s in the chart\u2019s history. Its title track followed as the second single, arriving with a short-film music video in which Grande takes a chainsaw to critics echoing real-world commentary about her appearance.<\/p>\n \n\tGrande has three more Chicago dates before a 10-show London run closes the tour between Aug. 15 and Sept. 1. She next appears on screen in Focker-in-Law<\/em>, opening Nov. 25.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/pop\/ariana-grande-speaks-out-chicago-concert-1236308627\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/P1025HAE-e1785237875108.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard Ariana Grande addressed her decision to step back from public life directly to fans during her Eternal Sunshine Tour stop in Chicago on Monday night (Aug. 3), pushing back on the idea that outside criticism had driven the choice. Explore Ariana Grande See latest videos, charts and news The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-2076360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2076360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2076360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2076360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2076360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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