The New York Times Editorial Staff - From TV to the Stage: Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and Others

Published in 2020 by New York Times Educational Publishing in association with The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. 29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010

Contains material from The New York Times and is reprinted by permission. Copyright 2020 The New York Times. All rights reserved.

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Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: New York Times Company.

Title: From TV to the stage: Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and others / edited by the New York Times editorial staff.

Description: New York: New York Times Educational Publishing, 2020. | Series: Public profiles | Includes glossary and index.

Identifiers: ISBN 9781642822519 (library bound) | ISBN 9781642822502 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781642822526 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Grande, ArianaJuvenile literature. | Lovato, Demi, 1992Juvenile literature. | SingersUnited States BiographyJuvenile literature. | ActressesUnited States BiographyJuvenile literature.

Classification: LCC ML3930.F766 2020 | DDC 782.421640922 Bdc23

Manufactured in the United States of America

On the cover: Demi Lovato performs on stage during her Tell Me That You Love Me tour at Arena Birmingham on June 29, 2018, in Birmingham, England; Joseph Okpako/WireImage/Getty Images.

Introduction

THE CAREERS OF Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus all began in the same place: television. Starring in sitcoms on Disney Channel or Nickelodeon led to massively successful music careers, catapulting them to superstardom not just as actors or musicians, but entire industries. The weight of an immense fan base, not to mention one that is young and impressionable, is a lot for anyone to bear. These child actors were challenged with meeting the expectations of young fans and their parents, as well as the entertainment industry, all while going through puberty. For each of these young women, the transition from television to the stage aligned with the transition from child star to adult superstar.

The phenomenon of the teen star, whose career spans television, film, music and beyond, is not new. The four covered in this volume were preceded by Hilary Duff and Raven-Symon, whose careers helped to establish this formula for fame and success. These young women typically begin their careers as sitcom stars, portraying relatable and relatively uncomplicated tweens finding their footing. The innocence and modesty of these characters are encouraging for parents of young girls, and it becomes in the best interest of the television network to promote this notion. The lives of these stars become inextricably entangled with the characters they play, and a lot of money and other peoples careers rest on maintaining that illusion. This means that every time an actress is caught drinking, posing semi-nude or checking into rehab, a flood of fear and anger is unleashed. There is no room for the complexities and nuances of the teenage years in the lives of these role models.

How do you establish yourself as an adult entertainer while maintaining the extensive fan base you garnered as a child star? How do you assert your sexuality and independence when all of America has watched you grow up? These challenging questions have been addressed in the careers of Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus. For each of these stars, their careers as adults are often defined by how they have transitioned out of adolescence and the ways they have both established, and challenged, the archetype of the teen star. Miley Cyruss transition out of child stardom is perhaps the most abrupt and least apologetic of the group. Where other former child stars assert their adulthood and independence through their work, Cyrus has famously done so through her public persona online and onstage. Rather than circumvent scandal, she seems to use it as a way to distance herself from her character Hannah Montana.

Miley Cyrus performing with Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips during Art Basel Miami in 2014. Mr. Coyne produced much of Ms. Cyruss Dead Petz project.

As these four careers have diverged from their similar starting points, these women have started to be defined in opposition to one another, as they forge their own distinct paths and start to become their own specific archetypes. As future tween stars mature into adults, these careers will undoubtedly serve as models for possible trajectories. But these four millennial stars feel specific to their cultural moment, often defined by their presence on social media and alignment with certain cultural and political issues of the day. The work these four women have done to broaden and complicate the experience of young women in the spotlight will likely be taken up and pushed further by future stars.

CHAPTER 1

Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande has come a long way from starring on the Nickelodeon sitcoms Victorious and Sam and Cat. Grande has risen to become a top-selling performer with numerous accolades, as well as a role model to her devoted and expansive fan base. She has used her fame to rewrite the expectations of young female pop stars, incorporating language of feminism and empowerment into her performances and online presence.

Ariana Grandes Debut Tops Album Chart

BY BEN SISARIO | SEPT. 11, 2013

ARIANA GRANDE, THE 20-year-old actress and singer who has been a star on the Nickelodeon shows Victorious and Sam & Cat and performed on Broadway, has arrived in the music world with a splash.

Her debut album, Yours Truly (Republic), opens at No. 1 on Billboards chart this week with 138,000 copies sold in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Ms. Grande is the first female artist in more than three years to reach No. 1 with a debut release, Billboard reported. The last to do so was Kesha with Animal in January 2010.

A string of new albums reached high on the chart, signifying the arrival of the fall market, when the music industry traditionally pushes out its highest-priority releases.

Tamar Braxton, a younger sister of Toni Braxton, opened at No. 2 with 114,000 sales of Love & War (Streamline/Epic); Nine Inch Nails Hesitation Marks (Columbia) bowed at No. 3 with 107,000 copies sold; and John Legend is in fourth place with 68,000 sales of Love in the Future (GOOD/Columbia), slightly more than Luke Bryans Crash My Party (Capitol Nashville), which has been in the upper rungs of the chart for a month and this week lands at No. 5.

Last weeks No. 1 album, Hail to the King (Warner Brothers) by Avenged Sevenfold, fell seven spots to No. 8 with 42,000 sales, a 74 percent decline. Big releases planned for the rest of the year include albums by Lady Gaga, Eminem, Katy Perry, Celine Dion and Pearl Jam.

Staying Safe, Exploring Sassy