arianators, which she has publicly said is the ugliest fandom name ever created — about her own fans, affectionately.
the short answer
arianators. the name emerged from the fanbase itself in the early 2010s rather than from her or her label. she has said publicly that she considers it the ugliest fandom name ever created, while thanking the fanbase in the same sentence. tiny elephants is an older and less-used alternative.
where the name came from
the fanbase, around 2012 and 2013, in the victorious and pre-yours truly period. it was not a marketing decision — most fandom names of that era were not, and the ones that were tend not to stick.
tiny elephants circulated alongside it for a while, from a running joke of hers about elephants, and largely lost.
what she has said about it
she has also, more seriously, been candid about the relationship being complicated — that a fanbase this size is not one thing, and that its collective behaviour is not something she controls or endorses. that is a more honest position than most artists take.
what the fandom actually does
- chart tracking, obsessively. a large amount of what circulates as ariana grande news originates on fan-run accounts posting streaming and chart data faster than the trade press. the piece on her social media covers why that is a mixed blessing.
- the one last time campaign. after manchester, a fan campaign pushed a 2015 album track back up the uk chart. it is now one of her largest songs anywhere, and that is entirely their doing.
- the leaks problem. the less flattering half. a substantial trade in unreleased material runs through fan channels, and she is now in court over the campaign that supplies it.
the shape of it now
unusually old, for a pop fanbase. people who found her through victorious in 2010 are in their thirties, and the wicked films brought in an audience with no relationship to the music at all. those two groups do not overlap much and do not always get on.
how a fanbase behaves during an announced absence with no end date is an open question. this one has been through a six-year gap before and was still there.
questions people ask
what are ariana grande fans called?
arianators. the name came from the fanbase itself in the early 2010s rather than from her label.
does ariana grande like the name arianators?
no. she has publicly called it the ugliest fandom name ever created, while thanking the fanbase in the same breath.
what is tiny elephants?
an older alternative fandom name, from a running joke of hers, which largely lost out to arianators.
what did fans do after manchester?
a campaign pushed one last time, a 2015 album track, back up the uk chart. it is now one of her biggest songs by streams.
how old is her fanbase?
unusually old for pop. people who found her through victorious in 2010 are now in their thirties, and the wicked films added an audience with no relationship to the music.