Ariana Grande claps back at accusations she's not a real songwriter with unreleased demos

30 August 2019, 17:49

By Sam Prance

Ariana Grande shared demos of 'breathin' and 'break up with your girlfriend, i'm bored' after being compared to Taylor Swift.

Ariana Grande has responded to a viral tweet claiming she's not a real songwriter like Taylor Swift in the best way.

Ariana Grande may be best known for her otherworldly vocals (seriously, what a voice) but what people may not know about her is that she is also an excellent songwriter in her own right. Ever since the start of her career, she's been heavily involved in her music and co-written tracks including 'Tattooed Heart', 'Problem', 'Side to Side', 'no tears left to cry' and all of the songs on thank u, next. Ariana also recently co-wrote Normani's critically acclaimed solo single 'Motivation'.

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Now Ari has proved naysayers wrong by releasing her demos and showing us her songwriting process.

Does Ariana Grande write her own songs?

Yesterday (Aug 29), author Zara Lisbon tweeted: "When people say "we shouldn't compare Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift because that's just pitting women against each other" - well, I disagree. The reason we maybe shouldn't compare them is because only one is a songwriter. It's offensive to Taylor Swift to even put them in the same category."

She then said: "Taylor Swift is an artist, a poet, a creator. Ariana Grande is a cartoon and a creation. She is not a songwriter. I don't care if she's co-written some of her songs, she is definitely not a songwriter, and definitely not on the same playing field as Taylor who is a committed, persistent, passionate and determined songwriter." Um okay.

It goes without saying that Zara is wrong. Ariana may not market her music around her songwriting but that doesn't mean that she isn't a songwriter. Her co-writers including Savan Kotecha, Victoria Monet and Max Martin have all praised her writing abilities. Calling her a "cartoon and a creation" isn't just offensive, it's ignorant.

Never one to let any bullshit slide, Ari took to social media today to flex her songwriting skills. She tweeted "throwback" alongside a screenshot of a text she sent to Max Martin, Savan Kotecha and Ilya of the idea for "break up with your girlfriend, I'm bored". In it, she literally writes the title before the song was even made.

If that weren't enough, Ariana wrote on Instagram stories: "we started and finished it the same day I sent this". A songwriter. She also shared the first demo of the song from November 2018 and it is literally fully formed. She then tweeted a demo of 'breathin' with the iconic caption: "so many memories cool in my voice notes. however.... why did we call this first take of breathin’ “ball slapper”? #professionalism #songwriting #wewonagrammyafterthis???? i-"

The talent speaks for itself.

Time and time again female popstars are underestimated and dismissed as "cartoons" or "creations" when it couldn't be further from the truth. Just like Ariana, Taylor often uses co-writers (they both work a lot with Max Martin) and it doesn't diminish her songwriting skills. They're both incredible artists and the receipts speak for themselves.

What do you think of Ariana's response?