Ariana Grande is feeling all the love following Thursday night’s (Aug. 6) final North American show on her Eternal Sunshine tour. The singer, who last week revealed that she plans to take a step back from the spotlight when the tour wraps on Sept. 1 in London, heaped love and praise on fans for their support and enthusiasm over the past two months of shows.
“ꕤ ｡˚ i love you … i cannot believe that this concludes the north american leg of the eternal sunshine tour. i am overwhelmed with love and the deepest gratitude. thank you endlessly for the most special, beautiful, joyful and deeply fulfilling few months,” Grande, 33, wrote in an Instagram post featuring dramatic on stage and backstage pictures from the tour, as well as performance video and a final image of a smiling Ari seemingly lost in the moment on stage.
“i will cherish every moment of this time with you all & these memories forever,” she added. “thank you, chicago … london, i cannot wait to see you soon. i love you all more than ever.”
After playing multiple nights in Oakland, Los Angeles, Inglewood, Calif., Austin, Texas, Sunrise, Fla., Atlanta, New York, Boston, Montreal and Chicago, Grande is headed to London, where she will play a run of 10 shows at the O2 Arena in London.
Last week, a spokesperson for Grande announced that following the release of her Petal album and the upcoming conclusion of the tour, the singer will be “taking a step back from visibility … She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny. This tour has been a beautiful experience for her. She loves her fans and has loved every minute of this tour so much.”
The break includes bowing out of her previously announced starring role in the West End revival of Sunday in the Park With George; she was set to appear in the London production opposite Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey.
Grande broke her silence on the upcoming public pause during her show in Chicago on Monday (Aug. 3), pushing back on the notion that outside criticism of her had driven the choice. “Sometimes when a story comes out that’s not directly from me, things can get a little blown out of proportion,” she said. “So I just wanted to speak to my fans directly tonight because I love you so much.” She stressed that the decision predated the recent chatter about her.
“The announcement that was made yesterday was not a reactive or impulsive thing,” she added. “It is something that I had decided. It’s a plan that I had quietly made a long time ago, and it’s a decision that was made from a thoughtful and empowered place.” She also assured Arianators that the negativity and judgments about her had gotten in her head.
“I 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–k opposite,” she said. “Nothing 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.”
Her comments came just days after Petal dropped, with the album’s lead single, “Hate That I Made You Love Me,” debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was her 10th career chart leader, tying her for the 10th-most No. 1s in the chart’s history. The title track second single was accompanied by a short-film in which Grande, literally, takes a chain saw to critics echoing real-world commentary about her appearance, in which producers at auditions suggest she get “work done” and to get more “sex appeal.”
Following the raft of scrutiny about her gaunt appearance in the video, Grande posted a message about the visual on Instagram on Wednesday (Aug. 5), writing, “i love this video with my entire heart. [I] must express my deepest, endless gratitude to my brilliant collaborators and friends who have brought this song of mine to life with me and who helped tell this story … thank you to everyone who gave their brilliance, care and time.”
Grande’s London dates are slated to kick off on Aug. 15.
