Ariana Grande has been spending time with ex Ricky Alvarez.
“They’ve always shared a close bond,” an insider exclusively tells Us Weekly of Grande, 33, and Alvarez, 34, after they were seen leaving a Whole Foods in Boca Raton, Florida, on Saturday, July 4. “There was a period in time where they weren’t close — while she was with Ethan [Slater] — so she is happy to reconnect with him again.”
The source concludes, “Ariana is grateful to have him in her life right now, and he’s been a huge source of support.”
Us reached out to reps for Grande and Alvarez for comment.
Grande met Alvarez when he joined her team as a backup dancer on her Honeymoon Tour in February 2015. The pair began dating that April and later called it quits in July 2016.
Grande famously name-dropped Alvarez in her 2018 hit “Thank U, Next,” singing, “Wrote some songs about Ricky, now I listen and laugh.” The track also featured nods to other exes, including Big Sean, Pete Davidson and the late Mac Miller, who died in 2018 of an accidental overdose at age 26.
Grande shared Alvarez’s reaction to being featured in the song while discussing her Thank U, Next album in 2019.
“Ricky loved it. He was proud. But Ricky was like, ‘Why did I get the worst line?’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He was like, ‘Everyone else’s line is so nice, and mine is like, ‘Man, f*** him, he’s trash.’ I was like I could have said that,” Grande recalled during her appearance on the Zach Sang Show at the time. “I could’ve said, ‘Wrote some songs about Ricky, never mind he’s trash.’ … But I didn’t. I said, ‘Now I listen and laugh.’”
Grande recently hinted at her rekindled connection with Alvarez by changing the lyric during her Eternal Sunshine Tour stop in Austin, Texas, on June 26.
“Wrote some songs about Ricky, I know he still got my back,” she sang.
After her romance with Alvarez ended, Grande dated Miller from 2016 to 2018. She was also briefly engaged to Pete Davidson in 2018 and married to ex-husband Dalton Gomez from 2020 to 2024. Grande moved on with Wicked costar Slater, 34, following her separation from Gomez in 2023.
A source confirmed Grande and Slater’s split to Us in June.
“It’s amicable. They gave lots of time and careful consideration and decided to go their separate ways,” the insider shared. “They are still friends and very supportive of one another. They have been quietly broken up for several months.”
Alvarez’s dating history beyond Grande is not publicly known.
