Ariana Grande performs during the half-time show of the NBA All-Star basketball game in New York in February.Frank Franklin II/The Associated Press
She's been called a "mini-Mariah" but pop megastar Ariana Grande jokes that, with a childhood penchant for skeleton face paint and Freddy Krueger masks, "a mini-Helena Bonham Carter" is the more apt comparison.
"For my fifth birthday party we had a Jaws theme and all my friends left crying," the American singer told Billboard. "I mean, I still am that way. But when I was little it was more concerning. There was a stage, when I was 3 or 4, where my mom thought I might grow up to be a serial killer."
Of course her mother, who now travels with the 21-year-old pop diva and is her closest adviser, need no longer worry, because Ms. Grande has clearly found her calling.
After a successful run as Cat Valentine in the teen sitcom Victorious – thus the sea of cat ears on tween fans at her concerts – Ms. Grande has enjoyed a meteoric rise to pop stardom, almost all of it in the past year.
Thanks to hits including Problem, Break Free, Love Me Harder (a steamy duet with Toronto artist the Weeknd) and Bang Bang (her R&B-fuelled collaboration with Nicki Minaj and Jessie J), Ms. Grande spent 34 weeks in the Billboard 100's Top 10 in 2014, and had the most top 10 singles of any artist that year.
She has also landed American Music Awards and MTV Video Music Awards, as well as two Grammy nominations, and her first world tour recently doubled in size, touching down in arenas and stadiums across Europe, the United States and Canada. Just two years ago she was opening for Justin Bieber on a handful of dates; now she's headlining.
While pop divas come and go, often with alarming speed, many say Ms. Grande has the chops to be more than a flash in the pan. Packed into her tiny five-foot frame is an exceptionally strong, dextrous voice that commands attention, and her stylistic prowess spans from old-school soul to electro dance pop.
And, along with that taste for the macabre, the self-effacing star also has a work ethic that runs deep in her roots.
"I come from an Italian family and they all have an incredible work ethic, starting with my grandfather, which trickled down to my mom, which trickled down to me and my brother," she said on a British talk show. (Her brother is a Broadway performer, producer and last year was a fauxhawk-sporting contestant on Big Brother.)
"We were raised to know what we want and go after it – and not to take no for an answer."
Ariana Grande plays Rogers Arena on Thursday night (ticketmaster.ca).