Ariane Grande is back to brunette – and fans are calling it the start of a new (possibly single) era.
Three years after going platinum blonde for her role as Glinda in Wicked, the 32-year-old singer and actress unveiled her fresh chocolate-brown locks in a mirror selfie shared Wednesday morning with her 372 million Instagram followers.
‘It’s good to see me, isn’t it?’ Grande captioned the photo — a cheeky nod to her Wicked character’s signature line.
The star credited her glam team in the post, tagging London-based colorist Francesco De Chiara, hairstylist Alyx Liu, and makeup artist Michael Anthony.
Grande’s hair transformation arrives amid speculation that she and her boyfriend, Wicked co-star Ethan Slater, may be going through a rough patch.
According to reports earlier this month, the pair have been ‘on and off for most of this year.’
One source told The Daily Mail that Slater, 33, skipped the MTV VMAs after a spat with Grande, though the couple reportedly reconciled soon after.
Fans were quick to speculate about what the new hair might mean, @excel_pager_420 wrote on Reddit: ‘Maybe it’s break-up haircut.’
@chillaf agreed, writing: ‘It’s definitely a “hide your man because I’m back” haircut.’
The duo first met on the set of the Oscar-winning Wicked movie in 2022 while both were still in other relationships.
News of their romance broke in July 2023, shortly after Grande’s divorce from ex-husband Dalton Gomez and while Slater was separating from his wife, Lilly Jay, with whom he shares a young son.
Grande originally went blonde in late 2022 to transform into Glinda for Jon M. Chu’s Wicked film adaptation, which went on to become a critical and commercial smash, earning $747million (£566.8m) worldwide and winning two Oscars earlier this year.
‘Even though I was wearing wigs, I needed to be blonde, too,’ Ariana explained to Vogue in 2024, noting that she dyed her eyebrows because of ‘a softness that Glinda has with the lighter brows.’
She said: ‘It didn’t make any sense when I had my dark brows.’
Now, as the highly anticipated sequel Wicked: For Good approaches its November 21 release, Grande’s darker locks could symbolize both a return to herself and a fresh chapter in her personal life.
Whether her new look hints at post-filming closure, emotional reset, or simply autumn style inspiration, one thing is clear: Ariana’s era of blonde Glinda is over, and brunette Ari is back.
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