she does, with three or four other people, and she has done since 2014 — which is a longer credited run than most of her critics assume.
the short answer
she does, in rooms. she has a writing credit on almost everything she has released since 2014 and on every track of the last four albums. the recurring collaborators are victoria monét and tommy brown, who shaped everything from my everything through positions, and max martin and ilya salmanzadeh, who between them account for most of the singles. petal is executive-produced by her with salmanzadeh and nobody above them.
does she write her own songs
yes, and the question is usually asked in bad faith, so it is worth answering precisely. she is a credited writer on essentially the entire catalogue from my everything onward, and on all of thank u, next, which was written and cut in a matter of weeks. what she does not do is write alone. almost nobody at this level does, and the ones who claim to usually have four other names in the small print.
the four names that matter
- victoria monét. a writer and now a grammy-winning artist in her own right, and the single most important collaborator on the middle third of the catalogue. thank u, next, 7 rings, needy, nasa and 34+35 all carry her name. the two of them met in 2013 and the working relationship outlasted almost everything else in this list.
- tommy brown. producer and writer, and the sonic architect of the first six albums. he is on the earliest records and on positions, and then — notably — he is not on eternal sunshine or petal at all.
- max martin. the swedish producer behind problem, break free, into you, no tears left to cry and a long list of others. he is the reason her singles are shaped the way they are, and he is on the 2026 lead single too.
- ilya salmanzadeh. martin's longest-running collaborator, and now hers. he co-executive-produces petal with her, which makes him the closest thing she has to a permanent creative partner.
what changed in 2023
the credit list on eternal sunshine is the smallest of her career to that point, and tommy brown is absent from it after six albums. petal narrows it further: two executive producers, one of whom is her, on her own imprint.
that is a real shift and it happened alongside a change of management and four years spent mostly on a film set. the piece on the scooter braun split covers the business half of it. the audible half is that the last two records sound like fewer people were in the room, because fewer people were.
the songs where you can hear her hand
the tell is the vocal arrangement rather than the lyric. the stacked harmony parts that carry the back half of almost every chorus she has recorded are hers — that is the part of her records nobody else is doing, and it is why a demo of one of her songs sung by anybody else sounds thin. the piece on her voice goes into what those stacks are actually doing.
questions people ask
does ariana grande write her own songs?
yes. she has a writing credit on almost everything since 2014 and on every track of the last four albums, always as part of a small writing team.
who is victoria monét to ariana grande?
a longtime co-writer, and now a grammy-winning artist herself. she co-wrote thank u, next, 7 rings, needy, nasa and 34+35, among others.
who produces ariana grande's music?
tommy brown on the first six albums, max martin and ilya salmanzadeh across most of the singles, and grande herself as executive producer on petal.
why is tommy brown not on the newer albums?
he is absent from both eternal sunshine and petal after producing on the first six records. neither side has given a public reason.