Ariana Grande addresses ‘bullying’ from fans: ‘I was very sad’

Pop star’s debut album originally included a pink and floral cover image

Ariana Grande has admitted that consistent fan bullying is what ultimately led her to change the cover art for her debut album, Yours Truly.

In celebration of her record’s 10-year release, the 30-year-old pop star answered fan questions related to the album in a two-part TikTok video posted over the weekend.

One of the questions asked what made her change the 2013 record’s original cover art to the released one.

“Well, it’s horrible,” Grande said, matter-of-factly, while holding a printout of the album’s initial imagery to the camera. The photo showed the singer wearing a baby pink dress while seated on top of a pile of pink flowers. In cursive, printed above an all-pink background, are the words: “Yours Truly, Ariana Grande.”

“It’s not horrible,” she corrected. “[But] you were right. You guys got very angry when you saw it. I was very sad about that, and I changed it.”

Grande continued: “You were right, but you’re not always right. Your bullying has been consistent for the past 10 years. So there’s that.

“You hated it, you were like, ‘This is f***ing ugly, mom, change it.’ So I did. Sometimes that works; sometimes it leaves me with wounds that make me question everything I’ve done since. Just kidding.”

The album was eventually released featuring a black-and-white image of Grande with her eyes closed and her face angled up towards the left corner. A cursive “Yours Truly” in pink is displayed at the top above her name in white text.

Also to commemorate 10 years since the release of her debut album, the “One Last Time” singer dropped Yours Truly (Tenth Anniversary Edition) on Friday 25 August.

The 19-track album includes all 12 of the original songs, in addition to a Spanglish version of “The Way” featuring Mac Miller and six new Live from London recordings of “Honeymoon Avenue”, “Daydreamin’”, “Baby I”, “Tattooed Heart”, “Right There” and “The Way”.

Yours Truly (Tenth Anniversary Edition) is out now.

Meanwhile, Grande is among several music stars to have reportedly cut ties with music manager Scooter Braun in recent months.

In the latest update, Grande’s team were reportedly unhappy with Braun after he allegedly refused to cut his vacation short and help tackle the media storm surrounding her rumoured relationship with Wicked co-star Ethan Slater.