Ariana Grande will step away from the public eye after her Eternal Sunshine Tour comes to an end next month following heightened attention over her health and body. The decision resonates in Canada, where her arena shows routinely sell out and entertainment coverage mirrors the same scrutiny she describes.
Album lyrics hint at break
The Wicked star, who released her eighth studio album Petal at the end of July, was due to play the lead role in the highly anticipated revival of Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George, which is set to open in the Barbican in 2027. But she has officially withdrawn from the production, the company behind it has confirmed, adding that she had its "complete understanding and support".
A representative for Grande, 33, told People: "She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny.
"This tour has been a beautiful experience for her. She loves her fans and has loved every minute of this tour so much."
Grande's physical appearance has been a topic of discussion in recent years, with the release of her new music video for the song Petal reigniting speculation about her health. However, this very song may have dropped the biggest hint about her plans to take a break from "visibility".
The lyrics to petal explore a toxic relationship with fame, with Grande singing: "It's bye, this time for real; Tired of painting endless pictures of a life that isn't mine." The singer has spoken previously about her difficult experiences with fame, telling The New York Times that it "has stripped a lot of joy out of this for me".
Personal life under microscope
In her album, she sings about how artists are expected to use their personal pain to continue making music, describing is as a "f***ed situation". "Tryna feel something real; To cry again; They say the artist needs tears to write again," Grande sings, adding: "'Cause all of my favourite stories end in some kind of catastrophe; But I don't need someone to save me 'cause this music and I will never die."
She also spoke candidly about her dating life, particularly after she divorced real estate broker Dalton Gomez after just over two years of marriage and started a relationship with her Wicked co-star Ethan Slater, who filed for divorce from his wife Lilly Jay shortly after news of his and Grande's romance became public. Grande and Slater split up earlier this year, with sources reporting in June 2026 that they had already ended their relationships several months earlier in an "amicable" manner and remained "supportive" of one another.
In her song petal, Grande sings that she keeps "trying on different boys for size; If this is my curse, I'll let it ride". Explaining her song-writing process when it came to this particular song with Apple Music, Grande revealed that she wrote from a place of "unfiltered rage", which was "very experimental and different for me". "I am usually too shy to tap into that," she said. "This time, I didn't filter as much as I usually do. I usually do a lot of rewrites and make things a little kinder. This time, I didn't."