Ariana Grande continued to tease fans about her relationship status with ex-boyfriend Ricky Alvarez during her Eternal Sunshine Tour.
Viral video footage shot during opening night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Monday, July 13, once again showed Grande, 33, make an intriguing lyrical change to her 2018 single “Thank U, Next.”
On the original track, Grande referenced her year-long romance with Alvarez, 34, while name-checking numerous exes, reminiscing, “Wrote some songs about Ricky / Now I listen and laugh.”
However, Grande changed the lyrics live on stage on Monday, with the live crowd erupting with cheers as she sang, “Wrote some songs about Ricky / We always find our way back.”
The Wicked star initially surprised fans with a “Thank U, Next” lyrical change during her show in Austin, Texas, on June 26, when she belted out the revised line, “Wrote some songs about Ricky / Know he still got my back.”
Alvarez was reportedly on hand to witness the June 26 shoutout, with fans sharing viral footage of him smiling directly after Ariana altered the lyric.
A source exclusively revealed to Us Weekly on July 7 that Grande and Alvarez “always shared a close bond” after they were spotted at a Whole Foods in Boca Raton, Florida, over the July 4 holiday weekend.
“There was a period in time where they weren’t close — while she was with Ethan [Slater] — so she is happy to reconnect with him again,” the insider said.
The source added, “Ariana is grateful to have him in her life right now, and he’s been a huge source of support.”
Ariana Grande Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Us reached out to reps for Grande and Alvarez for comment at the time.
The pair originally dated between 2015 and 2016.
In a 2019 interview, Grande told the Zach Sang Show that Alvarez frequently kidded her about the lyrical name-drop in “Thank U, Next.”
“Ricky loved it. He was proud. But Ricky was like, ‘Why did I get the worst line?’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He was like, ‘Everyone else’s line is so nice, and mine is like, ‘Man, f*** him, he’s trash.’ I was like I could have said that,” Grande quipped. “I could’ve said, ‘Wrote some songs about Ricky, never mind he’s trash.’ … But I didn’t. I said, ‘Now I listen and laugh.’”
Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater’s romance isn’t defying gravity, but it has turned heads from the start. Us Weekly confirmed in July 2023 that Wicked costars Grande and Slater were in a “fairly new” relationship following their respective breakups. News broke that same month that Grande and Dalton Gomez called it quits after two years […]
Grande reconnected with Alvarez on the heels of her split from Wicked costar Slater, 34, in June after two years of dating.
“It’s amicable. They gave lots of time and careful consideration and decided to go their separate ways,” an insider told Us about Grande and Slater’s split at the time. “They are still friends and very supportive of one another. They have been quietly broken up for several months.”
Grande is in the middle of a five-night Eternal Sunshine concert residency at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn before moving on to Boston’s TD Garden on July 23.
