Ariana Grande kicked off her Sweetener World Tour on a sentimental note by paying tribute to her late ex-boyfriend Mac Miller.
Grande commenced her tour in Albany, New York Monday night. Moments before the show at the Times Union Center began, Arianators noticed that Miller’s songs played in the background as they waited for Grande to take the stage.
Fans took to social media to share that the music was leaving them super emotional.
“Ariana Grande is playing Mac Miller right before her opening song for Sweetener tour rn and my heart can’t handle it SO MANY TEARS,” one fan tweeted.
Ariana grande is playing Mac Miller right before her opening song for sweetener tour rn and my heart can’t handle it SO MANY TEARS
— gabi (@gabidaviss) March 19, 2019
Another Ariantor tweeted, “Ariana Grande had Mac Miller’s music playing while people got into their seats for her concert,” adding multiple crying emojis.
Ariana grande had Mac Miller’s music playing while people got into their seats for her concert 😭😭😭😭
— Haley (@HaeKolb) March 19, 2019
The 7 rings singer has paid tribute to Miller multiple times since his tragic death at the age of 26 on September 7th of last year.
According to E! News, back in December, Grande covered up one of her Pete Davidson tattoos with the name of Miller’s dog, Myron, who she started caring for after his death.
The pop singer showed off the tattoo during a behind-the-scenes look at the “thank u, next” music video, telling her friends, “Look at my Myron. Guys, come look. How cool, right?”
Perhaps one of her most open tributes to Miller was in her hit single thank u, next, which later became the title track of her latest album. In the first verse of the song, Grande sings, “Even almost got married / And for Pete, I’m so thankful / Wish I could say, “Thank you” to Malcolm / ‘Cause he was an angel.”
Arianators believe that several of her songs allude to Miller and their relationship, including imagine and ghostin, which fans seem to think Grande sampled some of his music in, People reports.
Knowing how Grande likes to pay touching tributes to Miller, and seeing that this is just the beginning of her months-long tour around the world, the pop singer is likely to play more of his music and may have other tributes to Miller on her tour.
But for now, congratulations to Ariana for kicking off her big tour!