Ariana Grande, a 21-year-old with a powerful voice, debuted her first album, “Yours Truly”, at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. With her sudden rise to fame, going from unheard of to everywhere, adults scratched their heads. Who is she, and where did she come from? “She definitely came out of the blue with her singing talent,” said Eleanor Napoli ‘16. What the older generation does not know is that teenagers across the globe have known about her for the past few years.

In 2010, she first appeared on the Nickelodeon show Victorious, playing airhead,Cat Valentine, who attended a performing arts high school. With her red velvet hair, producers soon recognized Grande as the fan favorite; viewers tuned in to see her play her small yet quirky role every episode. In February of 2013, just three years after the airing of Victorious, rumors of a spin-off series ran rampant. “I do not understand why she is getting so much attention,” said Jakob Katzen ‘16. But others must have, because this show would star Ariana Grande as Cat Valentine, throwing Victoria Justice out of the limelight.

Sam and Cat, a new television favorite, featured not only Ariana Grande, but Jennette McCurdy from iCarly. In June of the same year, the show came into the homes of fans of both casts. Many people saw the best friend leads as a dynamic duo and the strangest match thought possible; and yet, it worked.

However, what viewers were not aware of was what was going on behind the scenes. Ariana Grande and co-star Jennette McCurdy were rumored to be at odds, and soon enough competition sparked between the two, as each posted her own photos online with different crowds. Grande’s number of fans and followers soon skyrocketed when the red-haired actress stopping dying her hair red and picked up a microphone.

When the hype over Victorious started to fizzle down, Ariana Grande released her first single, “Put Your Hearts Up,” in May 2012. This catchy song and its dance-along music video placed the singer straight into the ‘cutesy’ category. Although the singer claims it was not very ‘her’ and regrets filming the entire thing, it stayed in the minds of those who heard her name. But she soon grew wise to the pop world, and collaborated with numerous well-known artists who had already made a name for themselves and spanned across many different genres. These collaborations were with artists such as Mac Miller, with her song, ‘The Way,’ and The Wanted’s Nathan Sykes in ‘Almost is Never Enough.”

With the end of Sam and Cat in summer 2014, Grande closed the deal with her album, My Everything. After the release of this album, which was so different from her previous sound, people older than the age of sixteen began to take notice. “She’s turned into this diva,” said Charlotte Donoho ‘16.

Since early September when the album began to climb the infamous music charts, Grande has performed on stage from the MTV Awards to Jimmy Fallon, and it certainly is not the last to be seen of her. She already has multiple performances booked to add to her list. This September she announced her 2015 tour, and the seemingly unbeatable artist plans to dominate not only the music charts with her two No.1 albums, but the secondary ticket market starting next February with her long-awaited tour. Ariana is most definitely going Grande.