Ariana Grande no doubt has talent. She can act and she has a beautiful range when it comes to singing. Grande has grown and changed over the years and her fans, also known as “stans” can tell.

Just a couple months ago Grande dropped an album titled “Sweetener.” It was a good album, it got a lot of attention. Just recently she dropped a song titled “7 rings,” along with a video for the new song. It got a lot of buzz, both good and bad.

“I love it! I know she’s facing huge controversy over the lyrics, the way it sounds and the music video,” senior Bri Newport said. “It makes me feel so much more confident when I hear it and I think that’s what she wanted her audience to feel when they heard it.”

An underground artist under the name Princess Nokia took to Instagram when she first heard the song claiming, Grande stole her song, lyrics and flow. She stated Grande copied her song “Mine,” from her mixtape “1992”.

“To begin with Princess Nokia’s controversy over stealing lyrics yes there are similarities with it but they’re two different things,” Newport said. “Princess Nokia’s was about black women’s struggle with their hair, where as Ariana’s was a joke around her hair.”

There were also speculations that she copied Soulja Boy’s signature flow. Soulja Boy, the early 2000’s rapper we all know and love, has recently been on a call out streak. He has called out some of the biggest artists for jacking his style and flows, such as Drake, Tyga and even Kanye West. Grande was added to the list when she dropped “7 Rings.” A person on Twitter compared the song to Soulja Boy’s 2010 hit; “Pretty Boy Swag.”

“Moving over to the Soulja Boy stolen rhythm, there are SO many songs from SO many different artists that all sound SO similar. Artists sometimes take samples from different songs to add their own twist,” Newport said. “I don’t think Ariana stole Soulja Boy’s rhythm for the song, rather she was inspired by what he chose to do with his song, and wanted her own twist on it.”

Soulja Boy called Grande a thief and even went to Twitter to boldly call her out on it. Saying things like “Give me my credit. Period.” As well as “Lol stop stealing my swag. Word.”

Along with speculations of her stealing from Princess Nokia and Soulja Boy, she also got accused from stealing the Pink House theme from rapper 2 Chainz. 2 Chainz made a pink trap house theme video and album. The house in Grande’s music video was very similar to 2 Chainz’ pink trap house.

“The pink house referenced in the video deserves an honorable mention, i’m sure she was totally inspired by 2 Chainz’ video,” Newport said. “However; her whole theme of the video was for Japanese themed things and pink goes along with that. The house just did look similar but I think that the house was to show how she’s feeling about herself, her life, and her friends at this point in time.”

Ariana Grande is an inspiration for many, and just like her fans, she also has people who inspire her. The controversy surrounding her video was to be expected especially with Soulja Boy’s fiasco.

“As for the rest of the controversy; inspired, not stolen,” Newport said.

Photo provided by Creative Commons