In loving memory. Ariana Grande reminisced on her ex-boyfriend and late collaborator Mac Miller‘s legacy and revealed that his top priority was always creating music.
“I think that nothing mattered more to him than music ever,” the “7 Rings” singer, 26, said in an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s Beats 1 published on Wednesday, May 13. “And he was the kind of person who woke up and rolled into the studio, tumbled out of bed, into the studio next door. Nothing was more important. Talk about losing track of time and forgetting to eat, remind yourself to take care of yourself and be a person. He was a person who gave literally every single second of his thought and time and life to his music.”
Grande also praised the effort he put into his albums including Blue Slide Park, Kids, The Divine Feminine, Swimming and Circles. The pair collaborated on Grande’s first charting single “The Way” in 2013.
“It’s just such a beautiful gift I think that he kind of touched the world with, and I think the thing he’d want most is for us to just appreciate it and not forget about it,” she said.
Miller, real name Malcolm James McCormick, died from an accidental overdose in September 2018 at the age of 26. According to the autopsy report, the “Self Care” rapper had a combination of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol in his system at the time of his death.
The “No Tears Left to Cry” songstress and Miller dated for two years before splitting in May 2018. One month later, Us Weekly broke the news that Grande was engaged to Pete Davidson after just a few weeks of dating. Five months later, Miller was found dead in his Los Angeles home.
Grande opened up about the ups and downs of her relationship with Miller in her June 2019 Vogue cover story.
“By no means was what we had perfect, but, like, f–k. He was the best person ever, and he didn’t deserve the demons he had,” Grande said at the time. “I was the glue for such a long time, and I found myself becoming … less and less sticky. The pieces just started to float away.”
The “Thank U, Next” singer cried while recalling how it was difficult to headline Coachella, a music festival that meant a lot to the duo, in April 2019 — just seven months after his death.
“I was always a person who never went to festivals and never went out and had fun like that. But the first time I went was to see Malcolm perform, and it was such an incredible experience,” Grande told Vogue. “I went the second year as well, and I associate … heavily … it was just kind of a mindf–k, processing how much has happened in such a brief period.”
Grande has since moved on with real estate agent Dalton Gomez. Us broke the news in March that the couple are dating. The Grammy winner confirmed their relationship status when Gomez appeared in her and Justin Bieber‘s “Stuck With U” music video on Friday, May 8.
