What To Know About Ariana Grande's Boyfriend, Ricky Alvarez

Ariana Grande's love life has come full circle: after a decade apart, she and her former backup dancer Ricky Alvarez are officially back together, confirmed by TMZ in July 2026 following weeks of reunion speculation. What's more, Grande shared photos of them together on Instagram this week.

Who is Ricky Alvarez? 

Richard "Ricky" Alvarez, 35, was born July 13, 1991, in San Diego, to parents Sylvia and John Alvarez, and has a sister, Ryann, according to the Ariana Grande Wiki. He's described in his own professional bio as a Mexican-American artist who grew up with a diverse background in athletics and art before pursuing dance professionally, per Happy Place. He's now based in Brooklyn and runs his own media company, All Things Mean, shooting commercial and fashion work for brands including Adidas, Coach, Nike, and Calvin Klein, according to AOL.

His career started as one of Grande's dancers

Alvarez joined Grande's dance squad in April 2014, first performing with her at the Radio Disney Music Awards for her song "Problem," and went on to dance in videos and live shows including "Santa Tell Me". He later transitioned fully out of dance to focus on photography and creative direction, and rejoined Grande's team in a professional capacity as a photographer and filmmaker on her 2019 Sweetener World Tour.

READ: What to Know About Richard Gere's Son, Homer Gere

Their history goes back over a decade

Grande and Alvarez first dated from roughly 2015 to 2016, after he joined her Honeymoon Tour that February. Speculation about a romance began after the pair shared an onstage kiss during a Pride festival performance, and was effectively confirmed in July 2015 when they were photographed kissing during a stop at a donut shop in Lake Elsinore, California — an outing that went viral for hte wrong reasons when Grande licked one of the donuts on the counter, per Refinery29. They split in 2016, and briefly reconnected as friends in late 2018 — prompting Grande to publicly deny reconciliation rumours at the time — before Alvarez rejoined her touring team professionally the following year.

READ: What to Know About Tallulah Willis' New Husband, Justin Acee

How they got back together

The two reconnected personally in 2025, and by mid-2026 were being spotted together regularly — including a group hangout in Texas in June and a Fourth of July gathering with Grande's family in Boca Raton, Florida, TMZ reports. A source close to the situation told Us Weekly the pair had "always shared a close bond," and that the two grew apart only during Grande's relationship with Ethan Slater, according to Yahoo. Grande effectively soft-launched the relationship on Instagram in late July with a carousel of photos captioned "petal season continued," which included a clip of the two of them together, per E! News. She also swapped his name drop line in "Thank U, Next" during her live performance, instead singing: "Wrote some songs about Ricky, now he still got my back."

FAQ

What happened to Ariana and Ricky?

They dated for about a year in 2015–2016 before splitting, reportedly amicably, and remained on good terms afterward — including a brief spell of hanging out again in late 2018 that Grande publicly clarified was strictly platonic at the time. They reconnected romantically in 2025 and confirmed a rekindled relationship in the summer of 2026, per TMZ.

What songs has Ariana Grande written about Ricky Alvarez?

Alvarez is name-checked in Grande's 2018 single "Thank U, Next," which references several of her exes by name. Grande has said in past interviews that Alvarez initially felt his lyric was the least flattering of the bunch compared to the other exes mentioned in the song. During her 2026 Eternal Sunshine Tour, she repeatedly reworked the original line while performing it live — trying out different versions across shows in late June and early July, including one variation about the lyrics still holding up and another about him still having her back — before landing on a warmer permanent tweak once their reconciliation became public.

Where is Ethan Slater now?

Slater, Grande's Wicked costar and most recent ex before Alvarez, made his first public appearance after their breakup at a Shakespeare in the Park event in New York in June 2026, days after their split was confirmed. Sources described the split to E! News and TMZ as amicable and unconnected to her new album. Slater and Grande had dated since 2023, after meeting on the set of Wicked; he divorced his wife, Lilly Jay, a clinical psychologist with whom he shares a son, that same year.

Who has Ariana dated?

Grande's publicly documented relationships include rapper Big Sean (2014–2015), Ricky Alvarez (2015–2016), the late rapper Mac Miller (2016–2018), comedian Pete Davidson — to whom she was briefly engaged in 2018 — real estate broker Dalton Gomez, whom she married in 2021 and divorced in 2023, and Ethan Slater (2023–2026), before reuniting with Alvarez in 2025.