To be honest I never really paid attention to Ariana Grande when she was on "Victorious" or even after when she had her own spin-off show called "Sam and Cat." I probably didn't even know who she was until after her first album came out. The first time Ariana Grande really came to my attention, unfortunately not for a good reason, was when she was caught licking donuts at a donut shop in California and shouting "I hate America." After the footage was leaked of her at the shop, she wrote a letter on Twitter with a really vague explanation and apology. She said how her words were misunderstood. She was apparently upset with America's disregard for sugar and food consumption. She went on about how children in America are so obese and it really sickens her. I don't know how much of that is really true.

It's entirely possible that, like most, America's issues with food really do upset her, but that doesn't really excuse or justify why she was licking donuts in a donut shop. First of all, that's just gross. Secondly, the shop had to throw those donuts away so it's just wasting the shop's money. After that Ariana was definitely not on my list of favorite celebrities and I started to believe everyone that I heard about her in the news about being a diva.

But fast forward three years to 2018, she's really turned her image around and my opinion of her has definitely changed. The first time my opinion of her really changed was when a video was released of her talking to her friends about what she told a magazine about her relationship status. Ariana is in a car and tells her friends "I'm not Big Sean's ex. I'm not Niall's maybe new fling. I'm Ariana Grande. And if that's not interesting enough for you then don't talk to me."

Seeing her in this video being so honest and candid really made me see her as a feminist. I'd never seen her make any big or obvious gestures showing her feminism. Like all celebrities, I'd probably seen her tweet some generic tweet or post on Instagram on International Women's Day, but anyone can do that and that doesn't mean anything about someone's true character.

There were several things along the way that also changed my attitude towards Ariana, such as her beautiful tributes and benefit concert to the victims and survivors of the Manchester Bombing that happened at her concert. Seeing an artist truly care and have such a profound impact on a community is not something you see every day and even though artists say they are there for their fans, that's not always the case. Then again, when she got together with Pete Davidson everyone was saying how she potentially cheated on her previous boyfriend, Mac Miller, and how she was unfair to him, she posted something else that made me see her in a new light.

One fan had accused Ariana of being the reason that Miller totaled his car after their break up. Ariana quickly, and rightfully so, corrected the fan. Ariana replied back by saying "how absurd that you minimize female self-respect and self-worth by saying someone should stay in a toxic relationship because he wrote an album about them…I have cared for him and tried to support his sobriety & prayed for his balance for years but shaming / blaming women for a man's inability to keep his shit together is a very major problem. Let's please stop doing that." And I love that. It is absolutely insane to blame a woman for leaving a toxic relationship when the guy falls apart because of it. If you fall apart when someone leaves you, you definitely shouldn't have been in that relationship anyway because that's unhealthy. And women have hard enough times leaving toxic relationships, to begin with, without the rest of us attacking them.

And lastly, the thing that in my opinion is Ariana's great achievement is the masterpiece that is her new album, "Sweetener." While I think that most of it is just a personal love letter to Pete Davidson, with no objection from me, it really is an amazing album. She talks about issues with anxiety, relationships, and self-love. Her song "God Is A Woman" (GIAW) will probably be my personal anthem forever. She pushes boundaries with her music and their accompanying videos. I mean come on, in her music video for GIAW, she's God while sitting on the Earth and creating a hurricane, or as some fans have referred to it as, "fingering" a hurricane. Not to mention she literally breaks a glass ceiling at the end of the video. If that isn't the sign of a feminist, pop icon then I don't know what is.

P.S. For your own personal entertainment please watch her Carpool Karaoke video with James Corden. It really shows off her amazing, funny personality.

I'm Ariana Grande.https://giphy.com/gifs/latelateshow-ariana-grande-...