Ariana Grande says she's had the worst year of her life but we think she owned 2018 anyway

Just the other day, during her acceptance speech for the Woman of the Year award at the Billboard Women in Music, Ariana Grande (only 25 years old) said her personal life is not together as many may think.

While she did acknowledge that she has done well professionally, she said this year has been a "conflicting one".

But through the good and bad, Ariana Grande is one celeb that stood out this year. I will admit, I never really paid much attention to her until recently. Sure she’s always had an amazing voice and featured on many popular artists’ songs, but in 2018 it seems she really came into her own. 

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She gave us God Is A Woman, Love Me Harder and featured on other hits like Bang Bang and Bed with Nick Minaj, but this year is the year the world really saw Ariana Grande. And who she is.

Through all her hardships and triumphs known to the public, she has showed resilience, vulnerability and strength.

In her profile article for her Billboard Woman of the Year cover, she summed it up really well. She said: “I’m really lucky and really unlucky at the same time.

Her Billboard cover also looked amazing, by the way.

But it seems events in 2017, like the bombing incident in Manchester, were a precursor to the year Ariana has had this year.

Her response to the incident was heartfelt, and while she reportedly suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after the incident, she still went back to perform at the One Love Manchester benefit concert that helped raise money for the victims and their families. Following her song Get Well Soon, she penned a sincere letter as a tribute to the victims.

Such a powerful and mature response.

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And then she stepped onto the emotional roller coaster that was 2018.

Despite it all, Billboard says “she has never had more career momentum,” and I agree.

According to the magazine, Ariana Grande’s fourth album – Sweetener – that was released this August became her third number one on the Billboard 200, “breaking streaming records while earning critical acclaim”.

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She then released Thank u, the next single teasing that we can soon expect a full album. The song became an instant hit, but even more so when she dropped the video for it on YouTube. Channel24 reported that the music video broke the record for most views ever in the 24 hours with 55.4 million views.

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After her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller’s death was announced in September, Ariana Grande started sharing tributes to him – but obviously people had bad things to say about that.

And of course Ariana took charge and set them straight.

Another unfortunate moment was when she and ex fiancé Pete Davidson split. Pete made many headlines following their breakup, some of which included him saying he was being cyber bullied online and blocking Ariana citing his health as a reason. Ariana stood up for Pete pleading with her fans to be “gentle”.

While she has taken to social media to defend herself against trolls as well, she continued to stand up for others as well. The memorable clap back against Piers Morgan comes to mind.

Apart from all this negativity and her personal life struggles, what has really made Ariana Grande a star this year was her music.

Nostalgia as a lasting trend has reminded us of many fashion and food favourites plus television shows and movies we've loved from the past, so when Ariana Grande dropped snippets of the Thank u, next video, the internet went wild. 

When the video actually dropped, we were all nostalgic messes. For this I am forever grateful to Ariana for recreating the classic Mean Girls movie. As I write this article, the video for Thank u, next is trending number one on YouTube.

Yes, the title of the song (and soon to come album) may sound shady but upon a closer look she doesn’t shade any of her exes. Most importantly, she includes an ode of self-love with the following lyrics: 

“I ain't worried 'bout nothin'

Plus, I met someone else

We havin' better discussions

I know they say I move on too fast

But this one gon' last'

Cause her name is Ari

And I'm so good with that (So good with that)"

The strength Ariana has showed in her public life is inspiring and even more so how she channels that in her music to share with the world. 

So yes, I agree with Billboard's honour for Ariana Grande. She.Owned.2018, and for that I say thank you, what’s next?