How A High Ponytail Became Part Of Ariana Grande's Signature Look

The high ponytail has become such an iconic look for Ariana Grande that she almost looks incomplete without it. For a long time, the pop star wore it during her concerts and in almost every music video appearance too. However, Grande's biggest fans know that the ponytail wasn't always the "7 rings" hitmaker's go-to hairstyle. Before her music career started proper, Grande was known for her shoulder-length red hair while playing Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon shows "Victorious" and spinoff "Sam & Cat." But as she transitioned from acting to music, Ariana Grande's hair transformation began. "I had to bleach my hair and dye it red every other week for the first 4 years of playing Cat... as one would assume, that completely destroyed my hair," she pointed out on Facebook in 2014.

"My real hair is back to brown and I wear extensions but I wear it in a pony tail because my actual hair is so broken that it looks absolutely ratchet and absurd when I let it down," the Oscar nominee continued. In January 2026, Grande shared on the Hollywood Reporter's "Awards Chatter" podcast that her hair transformation was also inspired by her late ex-boyfriend, Mac Miller. "Malcom, 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," she said. Miller and Grande's relationship led to their collaboration on her breakout hit single, "The Way." Notably, she's also wearing a ponytail in the accompanying music video, albeit with slightly curlier hair.

Ariana Grande's love for ponytails goes back to her childhood. "It's how I've always liked my hair," the former child star confirmed to Byrdie in 2016 (Via Teen Vogue). "This is what makes me comfortable, and I feel like there's a thousand different ways to do a ponytail. A million!" But Grande's stunning transformation over her years in the spotlight has affected her go-to 'do, too, which has gradually got lower on her head (good news for her ponytail-related headaches, we're sure). This development can be charted across her album covers, with the variety of ponytails since her first album, "Yours Truly," in 2013. Grande's hit 2018 record "Sweetener" features a much lower ponytail than before. It was the first album shot in color and the "positions" hitmaker notably also traded her natural shade for blonde. 

Grande famously went even lighter in 2022, while playing Glinda in the "Wicked" movies, her first major film appearance, and that hairstyle naturally ended up on the cover of the singer's 2024 album "Eternal Sunshine." The Grammy winner's 2026 release, "Petal," is the first not to have a ponytail on the cover, which could indicate that Grande is entering a new era. Instead, it's a black-and-white photo of her loose locks streaming across her face as she smiles. Maybe the Oscar nominee is finally ready to leave her signature pony behind.