For the anniversary of her debut album, Ariana Grande is celebrating ten years of Yours Truly by recalling memories with some of the people who helped create it. On TikTok, the singer shared memories of her time with ex-boyfriend Mac Miller from her early music career.
The story came up on Saturday as she did a fan Q&A following some live performances and a merch drop. The fan question asked, “Which music video from this album was the most fun to film?”
Grande replied, “The Way.”
That song featured Miller on the track and they collaborated in creating the music video together.
“We had no budget, didn’t even tell the label that we were gonna do it,” Grande said. “Made it ourselves, and we said listen, we have a camera, we have a projector, we have music, we have balloons, we got dancers.”
She continued, “We didn’t have any budget or anything, we just made it. [We] showed it to the label, ‘cause they brought it up to me. They were like, ‘We need to shoot a music video,’ and I was like, ‘We already did it.’”
The popular video offered a glimpse into their relationship with scenes of them dancing, kissing, and generally enjoying each other. Despite the intimacy in the video, the couple did not go on to date until 2016. They broke up in May 2018, and Miller died of an accidental drug overdose four months later.
With the rerelease of Yours Truly, she shared a live performance of “The Way,” leaving Mac Miller’s verses as is with the addition of a string orchestra and a new video for the song that ends with a fade-to-black and the words, “Feat. Mac Miller.”
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After Miller’s passing, Grande wrote, “I can’t believe you aren’t here anymore. … i’m so mad. I’mm so sad i don’t know what to do. you were my dearest friend. for so long. above anything else. i’m so sorry i couldn’t fix or take your pain away. i really wanted to. the kindest, sweetest soul with demons he never deserved. i hope you’re okay now. rest.”
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.
