Ariana Grande Confirmed a Post-Tour Break. Then She Explained It Herself, Onstage, the Next Night.
On Sunday, a representative for Ariana Grande told People she'll "step back from visibility" once her Eternal Sunshine Tour wraps September 1, and confirmed she's withdrawing from a planned West End run of Stephen Sondheim's "Sunday in the Park With George" opposite her "Wicked" co-star Jonathan Bailey. Monday night, at the first of three sold-out shows at Chicago's United Center, Grande paused the performance to address it directly.
"Sometimes when a story comes out that's not directly from me, things can get a little blown out of proportion," she told the crowd, before adding that the decision was "not a reactive or impulsive thing" but something she'd "quietly made a long time ago." She kept performing after the statement, telling fans the tour has been "the most healing, beautiful, corrective, magnificent, special experience" of her life.
The representative's original statement to People framed the break as something Grande has earned rather than been pushed into, citing "endless, ongoing public scrutiny" without specifying its source. The timing lines up with the July 31 release of Grande's eighth studio album, "Petal," and the video for its title track, which drew heavy comment-section discussion of her appearance - discussion Grande's camp has not directly linked to the hiatus decision, and Grande herself pushed back Monday on the idea that outside criticism drove it. "Boundaries can need to be set," she said. "Human beings can need a break sometimes."
Grande has two more Chicago dates this week - Wednesday and Thursday - before the Eternal Sunshine Tour continues toward its September 1 close. What she does after that is, by her own account, already decided. She just hadn't said so publicly until the story broke without her.
