Ariana Grande’s latest music video, “Petal,” has stirred fresh concern among viewers, with some fans voicing alarm over the pop star’s noticeably slim appearance.
Grande, 33, has previously maintained publicly that she is healthy, but the intense visuals in the new clip quickly prompted online discussion about how gaunt she appears on screen.
In the surreal video, Grande portrays Pepper, an ambitious young performer chasing fame as she moves from one audition to the next.
The storyline takes a darker turn after another failed tryout, when a panel of studio executives dismisses her as “unmarketable,” “unattractive” and “inauthentic,” while also suggesting she has a personality disorder.
“We miss the old you,” one of the men tells her. “Maybe you could go out and find her and come back and give it another shot?”
Pepper exits the room, only to return shortly afterward armed with a chainsaw, using it to brutally dismember the studio bosses in a violent revenge sequence.
Ariana Grande’s new music video, “Petal,” has led to renewed concern from fans over her apparent weight loss.
The 33-year-old singer appears strikingly thin in the Christian Breslauer-directed video.
‘I am actually so over us normalizing this and acting like this is okay,’ wrote one fan
Now drenched in blood, she returns to the waiting room, only to receive a round of rapturous applause from the other female auditionees.
Despite the clever social commentary in the video, many fans were more distracted by Grande’s weight than anything else.
‘This is like looking at Karen Carpenter and everyone was like [shrug],’ wrote one fan.
‘I am actually so over us normalizing this and acting like this is okay,’ wrote a second.
‘Shocking and heartbreaking,’ wrote a third, while a fourth added, ‘For the love of God, please eat something.’
Another wrote, ‘Her bones are literally popping out.’
Despite the concerned comments, other fans defended the singer and said that it was inappropriate to comment on her physical appearance.
‘If y’all actually cared about her you wouldn’t be publicly making comments about her body,’ argued one.
Fans were shocked by the star’s appearance, with many comparing her to the late singer Karen Carpenter
Grande murders a group of businessmen with a chainsaw in the disturbing video
The song ‘Petal’ is lifted from Grande’s eighth studio album of the same name
‘The irony of all the girls over 200 pounds saying she’s “unhealthy”. You think being 200 pounds is healthy? Good lord, the jealousy is screaming from you guys!’ wrote another.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Grande’s management for comment.
Grande released her eighth studio album, Petal, on Friday.
The project was preceded by the lead single ‘Hate That I Made You Love Me’, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The singer has addressed her weight multiples times over the years and has insisted that she’s healthy, despite the continued speculation around her shrinking frame.
‘There’s a comfortability that people have commenting on that that I think is really dangerous,’ she told YouTuber Sally in a 2024 interview.
‘I’ve been kind of doing this in front of the public and kind of been a specimen in a petri dish really since I was 16 or 17, so I have heard it all,’ she continued.
‘I’ve heard every version of it — of what’s wrong with me. And then you fix it, and then it’s wrong for different reasons. But that’s everything from — even just the simplest thing — your appearance, you know?’
She added, ‘I think in today’s society, there is a comfortability that we shouldn’t have at all — commenting on others’ looks, appearance, what they think is going on behind the scenes or health or how they present themselves.’
Grande is pictured in 2018, which she claims was an ‘unhealthy’ time for her
The Wicked star is pictured in 2020 (left) and in her Petal music video (right)
In a 2023 TikTok, Grande directly addressed concerns about her weight and explained that older photos of herself, where she wasn’t as thin, were actually taken during an unhealthy period in her life.
‘I was on a lot of antidepressants and drinking on them and eating poorly and at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider my healthy, but that in fact wasn’t my healthy,’ she explained.
‘I know I shouldn’t have to explain that, but I do feel like having an openness and some sort of vulnerability here will [mean] something good might come from it. Healthy can look different.’
Last December, conservative commentator Megyn Kelly shockingly accused Grande of being ‘anorexic’.
‘Take a look at Ariana Grande right now, of the music industry and now also as an actress starring in Wicked. Let’s check in on how Ariana, who was raised on television, on Nickelodeon… is doing,’ Kelly began.
‘She is very clearly anorexic. If she’s 90 pounds, it’s a lot. She looks like you could snap her in two with your fingers.’
