Who Is Ariana Grande Dating? Everything We Know About Her Love Life in 2026

Who Is Ariana Grande Dating in 2026?

Ariana Grande is dating Ricky Alvarez — again. The 33-year-old singer rekindled her romance with the 35-year-old former dancer in the summer of 2026, roughly a decade after their first relationship ended in 2016. The reunion followed Grande's split from Wicked co-star Ethan Slater earlier this year.

The relationship went Instagram official on August 12, 2026, when Grande included Alvarez in a carousel photo dump, tagging him in two intimate snapshots. A month later, TMZ reported that the pair were spotted kissing at Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights on September 24, 2026, attempting to go incognito — Grande in a baseball cap — before being recognized in a VIP section. Video footage of the kiss circulated widely the following day.

The most recent reporting paints a calm, domestic picture. In early October 2026, a source told Page Six that Grande was "doing great" and "really happy," spending her time "laying low" in Los Angeles with Alvarez and "enjoying her downtime" — adding that "Ricky's family is there and she loves Halloween things, so she's getting into the season."

The timing is significant: Grande announced in September 2026 that she would take a break from public-facing work after completing her Eternal Sunshine tour, following intense public scrutiny of her appearance during the tour. Her representative said she would step back "after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour" to recover from the "endless, ongoing public scrutiny." In that context, the Alvarez reunion reads as part of a deliberate retreat into a quieter, more private life.

Ariana Grande and Ricky Alvarez: How They Rekindled Their Romance

The reunion unfolded in plain sight over the summer of 2026 — if you knew where to look. The first sightings came in June 2026, when Grande and Alvarez were spotted together in Austin, Texas, followed by a Fourth of July weekend in Florida spent with Grande's family. Later that month they were photographed at a Whole Foods in Florida by BACKGRID, looking every bit like a couple.

The biggest public hint came from Grande herself, on stage. During the Texas stops of her Eternal Sunshine tour, she began changing the lyrics of "thank u, next" — the 2018 song in which she famously name-checked Alvarez. Where the original lyric went "Wrote some songs about Ricky / Now I listen and laugh," she sang, in different performances, "And they still kinda slap," then "I know he still got my back," and finally, in July, "We always find our way back." Clips of the modified lyrics went viral as sightings of the pair kept multiplying.

August 12, 2026 brought confirmation: Grande's Instagram photo dump tagged Alvarez in two photos of the pair together. On September 4, her tour-wrap video included behind-the-scenes footage of her kissing Alvarez during rehearsals. The September 24 Halloween Horror Nights kiss, reported by TMZ, removed any remaining doubt. The Eternal Sunshine tour — 41 dates across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, plus 10 London shows — wrapped in London in September, after which Grande announced her step back from the spotlight.

Who Is Ricky Alvarez, Ariana Grande's Boyfriend?

Ricky Alvarez is a dancer and actor who first entered Grande's orbit as one of her backup dancers on the 2015 Honeymoon Tour. The two began dating that year and were together for nearly a year before splitting around mid-2016. At the time, it was a relatively low-key celebrity relationship — notable mostly because Grande later immortalized it in song.

That song, of course, was "thank u, next" (2018), in which Grande name-checked her exes with unusual warmth: "Wrote some songs about Ricky / Now I listen and laugh." Alvarez took it in good humor, reacting to the track on his Instagram Stories when it dropped. The two remained friendly in the years that followed, which is part of why the 2026 reunion — while surprising to fans — apparently felt natural to them. One source quoted in recent coverage put it simply: "They have so much history, it's just very easy."

Alvarez, 35, has worked as a professional dancer and actor, and his family's roots are in Los Angeles — the city where Grande has been "laying low" with him this fall. According to a September 2026 report, having Alvarez back in her life has helped Grande feel "instantly calmer" amid her decision to step away from public visibility, with the source adding that "the moment he stepped back into her life she instantly felt calmer."

What the rekindled relationship is not, at least as far as public reporting goes: an engagement. There have been no credible reports of a proposal, and a viral tweet claiming a pregnancy was debunked by entertainment outlets. Treat any such claims as rumor unless Grande or Alvarez confirm them.

The Ethan Slater Chapter: What Came Before the Reunion

Before Alvarez re-entered the picture, Grande's most recent relationship was with Ethan Slater, her Wicked co-star. The two met in 2022 while filming the movie adaptation, in which Grande played Glinda and Slater played Boq. Dating rumors began in July 2023, shortly after both had ended their respective marriages — Grande's to Dalton Gomez, Slater's to his then-wife Lilly Jay.

The relationship drew intense scrutiny from the start, given its overlap with both divorces, and the couple responded by staying almost entirely private. They were rarely photographed together and almost never discussed the relationship publicly, though Slater did share rare photos of Grande on his Instagram Stories during the December 2025 holidays, and Grande supported him at events like the September 2025 MTV Video Music Awards.

Reports of a split surfaced in early 2026, and by the time Grande was spotted with Alvarez in Austin in June, outlets were describing the Slater relationship as over. Grande has not commented publicly on the breakup, consistent with how private the relationship was from the beginning.

In retrospect, the Slater chapter reads as a bridge between two eras of Grande's life: the marriage to Dalton Gomez that ended in 2023, and the unexpected return to a pre-fame romance that has defined her 2026. It lasted roughly two and a half years — longer than most of her post-2018 relationships — and ended quietly, without the public drama that surrounded its beginning.

Ariana Grande's Dating History: From Jai Brooks to Dalton Gomez

Ariana Grande's romantic history is one of the most documented in pop music — in part because she documented it herself in "thank u, next." Her first high-profile relationship was with Australian YouTuber Jai Brooks of the Janoskians, whom she dated from 2012 to 2014. She then dated rapper Big Sean from 2014 to 2015, a relationship that produced the duet "Best Mistake" before ending amid conflicting schedules.

The Ricky Alvarez original chapter (2015-2016) came next, followed by the late rapper Mac Miller, whom Grande dated from 2016 to 2018. Their breakup was amicable, and Grande publicly mourned Miller after his death in September 2018, describing him as one of her dearest friends.

Her whirlwind engagement to comedian Pete Davidson defined the summer of 2018: they got engaged in June 2018 after just weeks of dating and split that October. Grande then married real estate agent Dalton Gomez in a small May 2021 ceremony in Montecito; they separated in early 2023 and their divorce was finalized later that year.

The Slater relationship (2023-2026) followed, and now the Alvarez reunion — a full-circle moment that has brought Grande's love life back to where it was a decade ago, before the marriages, the engagement, and the tabloid storms. Whether the second chapter with Alvarez lasts longer than the first remains to be seen, but as of October 2026, the couple appears happy, private, and in no rush to explain themselves.

What makes the Alvarez reunion especially notable is the context in which it is happening. Grande spent 2024 and 2025 consumed by the Wicked press cycle and then by a demanding world tour, all while facing what her team described as relentless public scrutiny of her appearance. Her September 2026 announcement of a break from public-facing work was framed as self-preservation — and retreating to a quiet Los Angeles life with a partner she first loved a decade ago looks like part of the same reset. Sources describe the relationship as easy and grounding, a contrast to the high-drama arcs that defined her previous decade. For a star who has lived so much of her romantic life in headlines, the most interesting thing about this chapter may be how little she seems to want to share it.

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