Ariana Grande appeared to confirm her rekindled romance with former backup dancer Ricky Alvarez on August 12, sharing an Instagram carousel that included two photos of the pair together. The mostly personal carousel included photos of Grande, her dogs and friends, along with two images of her and Alvarez, both of which tagged him.
One photo shows Alvarez with his arm around Grande, with both wearing white tops and denim and their faces cropped out. The second is a blurry mirror selfie. Grande captioned the post with a single exclamation mark and a heart, giving fans their strongest indication yet that the pair had rekindled their relationship.
Ricky Alvarez é o primeiro homem que Ariana Grande assume no Instagram desde Dalton Gomez. pic.twitter.com/aHy6dJ9xXg
— Ariana Grande Charts (@ArianaGonCharts) August 12, 2026
Weeks of hints before the announcement
Grande had been teasing the reunion for weeks, repeatedly changing a lyric from her 2018 hit “Thank U, Next,” which includes the line, “Wrote some songs about Ricky, now I listen and laugh.”
At the Austin stop of her Eternal Sunshine Tour on June 24, Grande changed the lyric to, “Wrote some songs about Ricky and they still really slap.”
Two nights later, on June 26, she changed it again while Alvarez watched from the crowd. At her July 13 show in Brooklyn, which coincided with Alvarez’s birthday, she sang that she and Ricky “always find our way back.”
The lyric changes came amid reports of Grande’s split from her Wicked costar Ethan Slater in June. Grande and Slater met while filming the Wicked movies, in which she played Glinda, and Slater played Boq.
Grande and Alvarez had also been photographed together several times in recent weeks, with Alvarez attending some of her concerts. Fans later spotted the pair traveling together through JFK Airport in New York after Grande wrapped the North American leg of her Eternal Sunshine Tour.
A relationship with history
Grande, 33, and Alvarez, 34, first dated from 2015 to 2016 after meeting when he was a backup dancer on her Honeymoon Tour. Their relationship became part of pop culture lore after the couple was caught on surveillance footage licking unsold donuts inside a California bakery, an incident that became known as “Donutgate.”
Rumors of a possible reunion resurfaced in December 2018 after Grande complimented Alvarez’s Instagram post. Responding to fan speculation, she wrote that they were “friends” and told everyone to “take a big ol breather,” according to Us Weekly.
A major career moment for Grande
The reunion comes during a major stretch in Grande’s career. She released her eighth studio album, Petal, on July 31, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 295,000 album-equivalent units in the United States. It marked her sixth consecutive No. 1 album, following Dangerous Woman, Sweetener, Thank U, Next, Positions and Eternal Sunshine.
Ariana Grande brings out Cynthia Erivo to perform ‘For Good’ at her Eternal Sunshine tour in London. pic.twitter.com/rTQs352ruE
— Pop Base (@PopBase) August 16, 2026
Earlier in the tour, she said she was considering stepping back from public life, describing the decision as coming from “a thoughtful and empowered place” rather than being “a reactive or impulsive thing.”
Grande has also withdrawn from the planned London revival of Stephen Sondheim‘s Sunday in the Park With George, in which she was set to star opposite her Wicked costar Jonathan Bailey. Her role will be recast.
