Photo Credit: batud@rocketmail / CC by 2.0
Ariana Grande tells Marc Maron that labels should include therapy sessions for their young artists—citing her own experiences as a teenager.
Chappell Roan’s Grammy acceptance speech has been broadening the discussion on the responsibilities of labels in making sure their artists are taken care of—especially those who are young and/or whose stars are rising. Now Ariana Grande has added her voice to the mix, telling Marc Maron on his “WTF” podcast about her struggles in dealing with fame when she was just a teen. The “Wicked” star is advocating for therapy for young artists in both the acting and music industries.
“I was 19 when all of that nonsense started happening to me, and it’s just a crazy piece of the puzzle,” the 31-year-old superstar, who got her start on the Nickelodeon show “Victorious,” explained. “It’s something you work so hard to try and understand, and it will never make sense to me. I just love art and that’s all I care about, so it’s just weird that [fame] is a part of it.”
“It started when I was so young, with my body, or rumors about my relationships, or about my team, or about my mom [and] people I love. There was just no limit,” she continued, adding that the situation was “impossible to navigate,” and she likes to speak up about the topic when given the chance.
“It’s so important that these record labels, these studios, these TV studios, these big production companies, make [therapy] a part of the contract when you sign on to do something that’s going to change your life in that way, on that scale,” said Grande. “You need a therapist to be seeing several times a week.”
According to the “7 Rings” singer, because big studios and labels “know how your life is going to change,” and have seen the way fame can “impact people in a negative way,” the responsibility should fall to them in “protecting you from that.”
“When these people are cast in these life-changing roles, or when they get that record deal, when they get that moment, that should be non-negotiable in the contract,” she said. “Because to be an artist, you are a vulnerable person with your heart on your sleeve. […] So the same person who is meant to do art is the exact same person who is not meant to deal with that shit.”
Grande has spoken up in the past about these issues, though her recent conversation with Maron was undoubtedly inspired, in part, by Chappell Roan. Back in June, Ari spoke to Penn Badgley’s “Podcrushed” about “reprocessing” her time on the set of “Victorious.” The show’s creator, Dan Schneider, has been accused of misconduct toward his young stars, though he has denied the allegations and is suing Investigation Discovery for defamation over their documentary about the subject, “Quiet On Set.”
“A lot of people don’t have the support that they need to get through being a performer at that level at such a young age,” said Grande. “The environment just needs to be made a lot safer all around, and like I said, I’m still in real time reprocessing my relationship to it.”