Days ahead of what would have been Mac Miller's 34th birthday, Ariana Grande is crediting the late musician with helping her find her sound as an artist.
Grande, who dated the rapper from around 2016 to 2018, looked back fondly at Miller's influence on her early career in the Jan. 13 episode of the "Awards Chatter" podcast by The Hollywood Reporter.
"My debut album took some time to figure out, because there was also a strange presence from Nickelodeon in my head at the beginning of, like, what should this project be?" Grande said about her 2013 LP, "Yours Truly."
"I've never talked about this, but actually Malcolm – who you might know as Mac – encouraged me to be myself, and that it was OK to kind of shed that character and embrace my brown hair and make R&B-influenced pop music and separate and do the brave thing," the 32-year-old continued.
"It was a great influence. I'm very thankful for that."
