With her anticipated sophomore album coming out August 25, Ariana Grande gets the national promo started by landing the cover of Seventeen magazine’s September issue. Becoming one of today’s biggest pop stars as a young woman is not an easy feat for anyone and it can come with it’s troubles. In the new issue, the 21-year-old shares an unfiltered look at her true self, as she opens up about overcoming insecurity, struggles with her family and finding success.
“It’s tough to spend some of the most important years of your life in front of so many strangers who want to pick you apart,” explained Ariana. “Insecurity has been the hardest thing I’ve had to overcome. I think everyone my age struggles with that because everyone strives for approval and wants to feel loved.”
Most recently Ariana appears on Jessie J’s brand new ladies anthem “Bang Bang” along with Nicki Minaj. In the feature she talks about her feelings on how collaborating can impact a song for the better, her issues with the “selfie” culture, and the biggest lesson she’s learned in the past few years.
Check out excerpts from the feature and more photos below:
On Overcoming Her Insecurities: “Everybody has certain things that make them feel insecure. Even when you overcome a huge battle in your life and you make a ton of progress as a person, there are still things that will upset you and break your heart. But I feel like I’m at a point in my life where love is the most important thing, and I won’t let anything come before it.”
On Selfies: “Everybody makes up these ridiculous captions for their selfies that have nothing to do with the picture, like ‘Layin’ in bed on Saturday.’ It’s like, No, you are not! You just spent an hour getting ready for this picture! We all post a selfie for the same reason—because we feel better about ourselves than usual. So just be like, ‘Hey, I feel good about myself today, so here’s a picture!’”
The Toughest Thing She Has Ever Had To Deal With: “Falling out of touch with my dad. It’s private, but it happened last year. It took me so long to be okay with it. The thing that got me there was embracing the fact that that I am made up of half my dad, and a lot of my traits come from him. So much of me comes from my father, and for so long, I didn’t like that about myself. I had to accept that it’s okay not to get along with somebody and still love them.”
(Photos via Kenneth Willardt)
Check out the full feature here.
