Ariana Grande just dropped the biggest hint yet that she’s back together with Ricky Alvarez with a clear lyric change.
During the opening night of the 5-day Brooklyn stop of her Eternal Sunshine tour on Monday, July 13 — which happened to be Alvarez’s 34rd birthday — the pop star changed the lyrics of her song Thank U, Next, which details her past relationships.
“Wrote some songs about Ricky, we always find our way back,” Grande sang at NYC’s Barclays Center, per fan-captured footage circulating online.
The original lyrics were, “Wrote some songs about Ricky, now I listen and laugh.”
It wasn’t the first time the Grammy-winner swapped out the originally snarky lyric with a more positive one for Alvarez, who she dated for a year in 2015.
During her stop in Austin, Texas, on June 26 — which was also her 33rd birthday — Grande sang, “Wrote some songs about Ricky, I know he still got my back.” Alvarez was present in the crowd and was captured shaking hands with a man many believed was Grande’s dad Edward Butera.
The pair have since been spotted hanging out together.
Grande and Alvarez first met when he worked as a backup dancer on her 2015 Honeymoon Tour. The pair began dating that year before splitting in 2016, though they remained on good terms. During a 2016 interview with Billboard, Grande described herself as being in a “very happy and healthy place” while they were together.
The renewed interest in their relationship comes after reports that Grande and Wickedco-star Ethan Slater quietly ended their three-year romance earlier this year.
2026-07-14 18:50:00
