Ariana Grande Called Out for Blackface and AAVE as She Raps in '7 Rings'
By Natalie Zamora
Unless you've been living under a rock all day, chances are you've heard the news Ariana Grande put out a new single and music video. "7 Rings," which was inspired by a champagne-filled trip to Tiffany's with her best friends, has kind of a different sound than previous Ari tracks. And her diehard fans are seriously here for it.
However, many are calling out Ariana for rapping in the song, as she goes, "I don't mean to brag, but I be like, 'Put it in the bag' yeah / When you see them racks, they stacked up like my a*s, yeah / Shoot, go from the store to the booth / Make it all back in one loop, gimme the loot / Never mind, I got the juice." This in itself wouldn't be that big of a deal, but these same people have also accused her of using blackface. Now that's a serious accusation.
What Nationality is Ariana Grande?
Ariana, real name Ariana Grande-Butera, was born in Boca Raton, Florida to parents Joan Grande and Edward Butera. The singer is of Italian descent, not hispanic like many think.
The pop star has been accused of using blackface and a "blaccent" before, where people believe she's trying to sound "black" when she talks. As for the color of skin tone, Ariana has definitely changed her appearance a lot over the years, in the form of some serious tanning. Many find this to be a prime example of cultural appropriation.
Of course, Twitter has been discussing it all day.
@ArianaGrande really gets away with blackface. How come more folks don’t speak on that?
— Mumble rap=minstrel show. (@topsy_kretts14) January 18, 2019
Some wonder why this isn't a popular conversation.
If you mean she's winning the cultural appropriation game, then yeah, you're right!
— Rachel Danza (@QueenOfSka) January 18, 2019
Others are tweeting directly at Ariana on the matter.
alright...i. Love ariana grande with my whole soul.......but i know we’ve all known for a LONG time that she’s profiting off of appropriating black culture and she uses AAVE with more excess each song that comes out and....its just. time we start addressing this :/
— an ELF with ATTITUDE (@delliemeats) January 18, 2019
And apart from her overly-tan skin, many are accusing her of using African American Vernacular English (AAVE), otherwise known as Ebonics, which according to LinguisticSociety.org "simply means 'black speech.'" People online are saying Ariana takes on words, phrases, and even pronunciations associated with black culture.
Now, Arianators and people criticizing "7 Rings" are going at it on social media, because, well, of course. The pop star has yet to respond to the severe backlash, and since she never has before with this specifically, we don't really expect her to. However she is very active on Twitter and responds to fans all the time, so be on the lookout for a response there if she chooses to give one.