Ariana Grande has quietly rekindled her romance with ex-boyfriend Ricky Alvarez in Los Angeles in recent weeks, while still publicly linked to Wicked co-star Ethan Slater, according to multiple sources who claim the singer kept in contact with Alvarez throughout her latest relationship. Those sources say Ariana Grande and Alvarez are back together but taking things slowly.
For context, the new reports come after months of scrutiny over Grande’s relationship with Slater, which began after they worked together on the film adaptation of Wicked. Their romance, and the timing of it, became a lightning rod online, and their eventual split left fans watching closely for whatever might come next in Grande’s personal life. Now, eyes have swivelled back to a very familiar name.
Ariana Grande And Ricky Alvarez: From Backup Dancer To ‘Thank U, Next’
To recall, Ariana Grande and Ricky Alvarez first met when he joined her team as a backup dancer. Speculation that the pair were more than colleagues swirled for about a year before they confirmed their relationship in 2016. The romance itself only lasted around twelve months, but it imprinted itself on Grande’s fanbase, not least because Alvarez ended up immortalised in her hit single Thank U, Next.
The news of their latest reunion surfaced after People quoted a source who said the former couple are officially back in each other’s lives, with Grande said to be treading carefully. ‘They’re not jumping into anything serious right away, but Ari is happy to have him back in her life,’ the insider told the outlet earlier this week.
Neither Grande nor Alvarez has publicly confirmed they are dating again. Even so, the pair have reportedly been seen out together in Los Angeles, holding hands and looking comfortable, prompting fans to treat the relationship as all but confirmed. It is not hard to see why longtime followers of the singer are invested. This is not a new fling, it is a return to a chapter many thought was finished.
Inside The ‘Messy’ Way Ariana Grande Rekindled Ricky Romance
Some of the sharper edges of this story come from claims about the timing. According to several unnamed sources who spoke to the Daily Mail, Ariana Grande allegedly ‘kept a line open’ to Ricky Alvarez while she was still with Ethan Slater. The suggestion is not of full-scale cheating, but of emotional overlap, which, in celebrity-relationship land, can be just as incendiary.
‘It was important to her to still be loosely in contact with him as they still had mutual friends,’ one source explained, painting a picture of a connection that never quite shut down. ‘As her relationship was ending with Ethan, she chose to reach out to Ricky more… then hang out with him more with mutual friends… and then they started hanging out alone.’
It is a pretty relatable progression, if also a bit messy. The line between “catching up with an ex” and “reopening a serious door” can blur fast, especially when there is history involved and a current relationship quietly faltering in the background.
Another insider insisted that, whatever the optics, Grande and Alvarez ‘never crossed the line while she was with Ethan’. That qualifier matters. Fans have watched Grande weather accusations before, and the narrative around who knew what and when can harden into reputation. Here, the story being offered is of a woman hedging emotionally before an official split, rather than running two relationships in parallel.
Why Ariana Grande Went Back To Ricky, Not Forward
A separate source described the emotional pull that apparently drew Ariana Grande back to Ricky Alvarez, stressing that it was not a casual rebound from Ethan Slater. ‘Ariana and Ricky are fully back in each other’s lives and are together,’ the insider said, adding that comfort and familiarity played a major role.
‘What ultimately drew her back was the comfort and familiarity they share. She doesn’t feel like she has to prove herself, and there’s a level of trust that comes with knowing each other so well,’ the source continued. For a global star who has had almost every romantic move dissected online, that kind of safety net is not nothing.
The same insider pushed back on the idea that this is a temporary distraction. ‘This doesn’t appear to be a rebound. Ariana and Ricky have a long history and a level of familiarity. They’re revisiting the relationship with a different perspective, openly talking about what went wrong before and making a conscious effort to avoid repeating those mistakes.’
In a slightly pointed aside, the source added that this more careful, reflective approach ‘isn’t usually Ariana’s thing’. It is a jab wrapped in a compliment, but it also nods to Grande’s public pattern of moving through high-profile relationships at speed. Here, if these accounts are accurate, she is trying to do the grown-up, slightly boring work of going slow. Not the kind of stuff that usually makes stan edits on TikTok, but arguably the more interesting bit.
On the other side of the triangle, the human fallout is still there. One source claimed Ethan Slater did not hear about the rekindled romance directly from Grande, but through friends instead. If true, that is a cold way to find out an ex has circled back to an old love, particularly when your own relationship with that ex only recently exploded onto front pages.
Ricky Alvarez, for his part, is described as ‘very happy being back in her life and is looking for this second chance to be what he wanted the first time around’. It is a romantic line, but it also underscores how much of this is about revision and do-overs, rather than fresh starts.
Ariana Grande has been approached for comment. At the time of writing, she has not publicly responded to the latest claims and has kept her social media focused on work and carefully curated personal snapshots, leaving fans and critics to fill the gaps themselves, as they always do.
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