Ariana Grande’s ex surprised fans by attending her concert as she changed a lyric about him mid-performance

Ariana Grande’s ex-boyfriend Ricky Alvarez made a surprise appearance at her Eternal Sunshine concert in Austin, Texas on Friday, which happened to be her 33rd birthday.

The pop music icon even changed the lyrics to her 2019 hit thank you, next from ‘Wrote some songs about Ricky / Now I listen and laugh’ to ‘… they still kinda slap’ and ‘…he still got my back’ in honor of Alvarez, who was watching from the VIP section with Grande’s dad.

At that moment, Ed Butera gave the 38-year-old former Argentine footballer a congratulatory handshake, as seen in fan footage.

Alvarez seemed thrilled to be there, especially given the occasion, and looked on as a group of backup dancers presented Grande with a birthday cake on stage.

Some might read more into the scenario, especially now that Grande is single again after her amicable split from Wicked co-star Ethan Slater. 

Grande and Alvarez did date briefly between April 2015 and July 2016. They met when Alvarez was hired as a backup dancer for her Honeymoon Tour. Though they split up, they have remained good friends.

But a source told TMZ that ‘there is nothing romantic between Ariana and Ricky this time around’ and they’re just hanging out.

On Thursday, on a break from her tour, the three-time Grammy winner was spotted out to lunch with Alvarez and some other friends at a restaurant in Austin.

Alvarez’s reappearance in Grande’s company comes in the wake of reports that the singer ended her three-year relationship with Slater, 34, who she met on the set of the 2024 musical-fantasy in which she played Glinda and he portrayed Boq.

A source told the Daily Mail that they both decided to go their separate ways after a great deal of consideration.

The same source said the breakup, which happened several months ago, was amicable and the two were still on friendly terms.

Grande was said to be in good spirits as she focuses her time and energy on her current tour, which kicked off on June 6 in Oakland, California and ends on September 1 in London.

Slater has not been seen at any of Grande’s shows thus far.

Their romance was first reported in July 2023, amid buzz that Grande’s marriage to Dalton Gomez was over. It was later reported that Grande and Gomez separated in January of that year. 

Slater had also just separated from his wife, Lilly Jay, with whom he had a son who was born in August 2022.

At the time, sources insisted they didn’t start dating until after they had separated from their spouses.

Meanwhile, Grande is gearing up for the release of her eighth studio album, Petal, on July 31.

The 12-track LP features the single Hate That I Made You Love Me, which sounds like a breakup song but is actually more multi-layered than that and serves as a message about public scrutiny and the complex relationship she has with the media and her fan base.

Grande, who has worked prolifically in both music and acting since finding fame as a teenager in the Nickelodeon series Victorious, recently acknowledged that it could be beneficial for her to reduce the pace a little.

‘I think that it would probably be healthy,’ she told Vogue Japan. ‘I’m not used to taking breaks. But I do know that I grew so much from taking space from music while I was filming Wicked… But yeah, these past few years have been pretty non-stop. And by few, I mean 15.’

The actress, who filmed Wicked and its sequel Wicked: For Good back-to-back, explained that she is searching for more ‘balance’ in the years to come.

‘Balance is the goal for the next 15 years. I don’t think they will look like the previous 15 years. I think there will be more balance,’ she said.

Grande portrayed Glinda in the two Wicked movies and explained that she totally immersed herself in the part.

‘I spent a lot of time reading between the lines and scribbling down little ideas about what might have happened along the way that made her feel insecure.

‘Whether it was her friendship with Elphaba or her relationship with Fiyero, tiny things she swept under the rug that shaped her into this super high-functioning, performative human being.

‘Sometimes we are playing a character, and sometimes we are letting our guard down,’ Grande continued. 

‘Sometimes we are inventing a persona or taking on a character that was written for us by someone else. 

‘And sometimes it’s just pouring our hearts out and letting our truths out. But it’s always interesting because the world sometimes can’t tell the difference.’

She added: ‘We have very different processes, and we’re very different as people. Yet we took the time to learn each other, take care of each other through this process… I think it was really meant to be.

‘We took good care of each other and worked very hard, and it was the most gratifying work of my life. I would do it all over again today.’

Grande is celebrated for her soaring, four-octave singing voice and effortless whistle register.

But she actually began her career as an actress and musical theater performer.

In 2008, Grande had her major breakthrough when she was cast as Charlotte in the Broadway musical 13. She also had a role in the 2013 Nickelodeon TV movie Swindle. 

She starred as Penny Pingleton in the 2016 NBC TV event Hairspray Live! Then she appeared in the 2021 Netflix comedy Don’t Look Up as pop star Riley Bina before her Golden Globe-nominated turn as Glinda in Wicked.