Ariana Grande May Not Be At The Grammys, But Yes, She Wore Her Dress Anyway

If you thought Ariana Grande was planning on making anything but power moves this year, think again. After dropping her latest fire album thank u, next just days ago, Grande announced she wouldn't be attending the Grammy Awards, but that didn't mean she wouldn't be sharing her red carpet look. Ariana Grande's 2019 Grammys dress may not have made it to the show, but she wore it anyway. (And looked incredible, of course.) In fact, I'm honestly not ready to say “Thank U, Next” to anything about it.

We all know Ari's had an intense 2018 personally, but she's also faced some drama from a professional standpoint. Last year, Grande didn’t even make an appearance on the Grammys red carpet, and everyone was wondering where the heck she was. This year, we were all ready for her to serve looks, only to have her announce on Twitter that she would be neither performing nor attending. Apparently, Grande didn't feel "supported" when it came to figuring out her performance. "My creativity & self expression was stifled," Grande wrote in a tweet, which is a real shame, considering Sweetener won tonight for Best Pop Vocal Album.

Despite not hitting the carpet, Grande decided to show off her pre-planned look:

"When @zacposen makes u a custom gown it doesn’t matter if you’re singing or not," the singer captioned the shot of herself in a breathtaking baby blue pleated dress. The Zac Posen dress was styled by celebrity stylist Law Roach, and celeb makeup artist Rokael Lizama was responsible for Ari's flawless, simple beauty look.

Along with the gorgeous gown, the singer sported a wavy high ponytail styled by Josh Liu, and a blingy choker around her neck:

Is this a wink? Is she winking at us? Ari literally always gets the last laugh, it's a fact:

I remember when I first discovered Grande back around 2011 or 2012. I was absolutely obsessed with Imogen Heap at the time, and I found Grande’s cover of Heap’s "Hide and Seek” somewhere on YouTube. I was transfixed by Grande’s strong voice, and loved that she was playing around with her looping machine. I replayed her YouTube cover over and over and over again, and sometimes I even go back to this video to see how far Grande has come and how talented she has always been.

I recently discovered that Grande included her own cover of Heap’s “Goodnight and Go” in her 2018 album Sweetener, and I now feel some sort of kinship with Grande knowing that we both love Heap so much. Heap had the nicest things to say about Grande and her “goodnight n go” remix in an interview with Billboard in August 2018, saying, “It feels like a gift: when somebody that famous picks up on a song that has had its day and gives it a second life, it’s a real gift.” I’m not crying, you're crying!

Anyway, it's safe to say I love Grande a lot, so getting to see her look tonight despite her choice to ditch the Grammys was honestly so exciting. That dreamy Cinderella-like gown should've had its time to shine on the carpet, but a few dedicated Instagram posts will do. Keep serving power moves, Ari! This is your year.