Hi, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, internet's busiest music nerd. Hope you are doing well.

And today we are going to be talking about a subject that is far more serious than what I think we talk about on this channel on a regular basis. It's something I have not been eager to discuss on this channel, frankly, but I feel like it's gotten so big and so unignorable it has to be talked about, at least in some capacity.

Of course, this is about one of the biggest and greatest stars on the pop scene currently, Miss Ariana Grande. And really the tipping point for me with doing this video, even though I've been well aware of this dialogue for over a year at this point, because Ariana and her team announced after she finishes off the Eternal Sunshine Tour, which she is currently on, she's going to be taking a break from visibility in the public eye, and apparently will also be sitting out the West End revival of Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George.

A pretty upsetting development, given that Ariana has very much had her heart set on sort of the push she has been making into film and theater as of late. But this move into other creative fields for Ariana has also coincided with a lot, lot, lot of scrutiny. Because as fans and critics alike have noticed over the last few years, with her getting more visible exposure due to interviews and press promo for Wicked. Again, she's currently out on this Eternal Sunshine Tour, where she's performing material not just from her last record, but she has this new album that she's just dropped, Petal. But despite all of this output and success and all of these different artistic achievements she has been pulling off as of late, the dialogue has been growing louder and louder and louder about Ariana's physique.

And it really all kind of came to a head with the release of this new "Petal" music video. Now, as a bit of a heads up for anybody watching, I do want to say the point of this video and the tone of this video will not be to sort of go over a bunch of photos of Ariana Grande and closely dissect them and rip apart her physique and go over whatever gradual changes we can see over a period of months.

If you want to know what I or anybody else is talking about, the "Petal" video is right there for you to see in whatever amount you can take it. But as somebody who has been covering Ariana's work for years and has seen her career grow and change and evolve for over a decade now, the way that she looks and presents in that video, at least to me, was shocking. That also seems to be the takeaway for a lot of other outside observers too.

And while I'm by no means an expert in what many are alleging Ariana is dealing with in terms of eating disorders and the like, what I do want to come on here and talk about is how insane and I think unhelpful the discourse around this has gotten. I don't know if it's because of us not mentally being where we need to be as a society to have this dialogue in a constructive way, or if the platforms that we're having this conversation on are nerfed to the point where it's just not fostering good-headed conversation.

First off, I think the wokest among us and many of Ariana's supporters are correct in that a lot of the dialogue around her physique and what she may be dealing with behind the scenes is going too far, it's too invasive, it's too nasty, sometimes even ascribes evil nefarious intent to her actions as if Ariana getting thinner is a part of like some devilish plot she's concocted and she's maniacally laughing as she watches everybody talking about it on the internet, which even if you are coming at this conversation from a place of concern, that kind of discourse doesn't do anything other than otherize and stigmatize people who deal with what Ariana is allegedly dealing with.

Anybody who's struggling with a sort of disorder of any kind or maybe even an addiction made to be a monster, which again doesn't fix anything, doesn't solve anything. But simultaneously the other side of this discourse that I find to be almost as concerning is the weaponization of sexism, of body shaming concerns, and other things to shut down any and all discourse and make, sort of like any public observations of what we are seeing with our eyes wrong in some way.

Because there actually are a lot of people, even if they lack the knowledge and the language to have this conversation in the most constructive and educational way, are coming at this with at least decent intentions or are coming at this from a place of concern.

And rather than telling these people they should not be talking at all, it would be so much more helpful, especially those I've seen online commentators who have experiences with ED or helping people with ED, as a profession, to instead of making your average person feel guilty for noticing what they are very obviously noticing with their eyes, instead give them the vocabulary and the framework of understanding necessary in order to allow them to engage in this topic mindfully. While I understand a lot of those attempts, if they are made, may fall on deaf ears, not everybody is going to take the advice and the recommendation that they walk into this subject matter with the eggshells that they should.

I don't think any good will come out of deluding ourselves into thinking as long as we get really loud and really angry and really insistent, the conversation around this will just stop. I don't think silently ignoring and avoiding talking about eating disorders at all costs makes them magically go away.

And secondarily, what bugs me about this position is that, inadvertently, I personally feel like it absolves Ariana and her team of any responsibility here.

And while yes, I obviously think Ariana should not be made out to be a bad person or scapegoated in any way if she is in fact struggling with what a lot of people are theorizing her to right now... simultaneously, we do have to reckon with the reality that Ariana is a fully grown adult with millions of dollars, a lot of resources, a lot of time if she chooses to give herself the ability to have time.

She has a team of people behind her. And while those with different health conditions and disorders are not always in control of how that manifests in their lives, Ariana and her team are in control of what her platform does, how it looks, how she presents on it, the sort of social impacts it does and does not have.

Over the course of Ariana's career, she has actually done quite a bit of a very well-meaning philanthropy. So undoubtedly, this woman and her team understand the importance of making a positive impact. Which leads me to Ariana's recent decision that I mentioned earlier to take a break and withdraw from the public eye.

Which personally, with the way things are going currently, I think is a good move. With that being said, I do think this public statement that was released that you could see on your screen right now could have done without putting the blame entirely on those who are observing the changes that they have been observing.

Yes, again, while all the criticisms and the scrutiny have not been healthy, acting like absolutely nothing is wrong whatsoever and whatever everyone has been noticing over the past two years has been completely in their heads. Or totally unfair or barbaric for them to see and to notice with their eyes, I feel like isn't helping the situation either. I think if anything is going to quiet down the insanity of all of this, it's maybe definitive answers and information.

Which avoiding the topic and the impossible to ignore changes that have really reached a peak in this "Petal" music video. That certainly hasn't quieted the discourse any. Again, like I said earlier, it's only made it bigger than anything Ariana is doing in theater, film, and music.

And simultaneously has led to a number of people online seeing Ariana's changing physique as aspirational or goals. The way Ariana Grande is physically presented to us in the media does have a broader impact that stretches out beyond her.

Being in my early 40s, I still have a very vivid memory of how toxic beauty and thinness standards were in the 2000s. How damaging trends like heroin chic were for people's own body image issues. I just find it very confusing and concerning that simultaneously we live in an age where now men are starting to see some of these trends manifest in their own way, their own issues and insecurities manifesting in things like the looksmaxxing movement.

So again, there's a degree to which all of this is getting really savage, nasty, and unnecessary. There's a degree to which I feel like attempting to shut down this conversation entirely isn't helping either.

And there's a degree to which I think Ariana and her team's complete silence and pretending like there is nothing going on whatsoever isn't fixing things either. I'm sorry if this sounds really fence-sit-y, and lame, and centrist-y or whatever. But there's got to be some kind of sensible middle ground between all of this bullshit that's just normal and constructive.

And those are my thoughts. Please let me know yours in the comments. And please try to be as respectful and as understanding with regard to this topic as much as you humanly can.

And yes, as I said, I'm going to leave it there.

Anthony Fantano, Ariana Grande, forever.