Overview
- On The Hollywood Reporter's podcast, she said Mac Miller urged her to shed the TV character, embrace her brown hair, and pursue an R&B‑influenced pop direction.
- Grande said that guidance shaped her debut era, leading her to feature him on 2013's "The Way" and credit him with helping her find her sound on Yours Truly.
- The appearance was taped in December before an audience at Chapman University and released Jan. 13, marking her first public account of his role in that shift.
- Their collaboration preceded a relationship that became public in 2016 and ended amicably in 2018, months before Miller's death at 26 from an accidental overdose.
- Coverage also noted her recent return to brunette after a multiyear blond Wicked period, a change she has long used to signal artistic chapters.