Fans of Ariana Grande showcased a wide amount of excitement at her new look at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards. Many expressed their relief online that the global singer is back with her iconic ponytail. That said, others have criticized this fan response, calling it hypocritical.
Before the Golden Globes, fans of Ariana Grande had been harsh critics of the singer’s looks throughout her time working on the Wicked movies alongside Cynthia Erivo. Many fans made these critiques out of concern for the cast’s health, due to the apparent thinness of many of them. However, this criticism was quick to spiral out of control, to the point of accusing online Grande fans of being parasocial towards the singer.
The positive reception Grande received from her fans at the Golden Globes only cemented these feelings for others who had observed the situation for months. Fans only wanted Grande back as the image of a global pop star and felt that her time under Wicked was holding her back.
It has become a growing trend among online fans of celebrities to feel so strongly about the image of an important figure that they feel entitled to dictate how they present themselves to the world. Being a part of the Wicked films was a huge accomplishment for Grande, not as a pop star, but as an artist for her craft. It was a role that she had dreamed of playing since she was young, and many of her fans never cared.
Fans being constant critics of artists when they stray beyond what they perceive these artists to be will only hurt them in the long run. Artists, no matter how famous, should be able to have supporters who want to see them wholly and not be limited to one artistic genre.
