On February 16, 2019, Grande announced on her Twitter that Sweetener Diaries, a follow-up to this series, will be in production throughout the course of her Sweetener World Tour, before being remade as the concert film Excuse Me, I Love You scheduled to be released in 2020.
Premise
Ariana Grande: Dangerous Woman Diaries follows singer Ariana Grande during her Dangerous Woman Tour in 2017 and features "the making of Grande's last album, Sweetener, concert performances, never-before-seen highlights from the Dangerous Woman Tour and moments from her One Love Manchester tribute concert."[1] The series also features Grande's reflections on the events of the bombing at her concert at Manchester Arena that occurred during her tour.[2]
Production
On July 23, 2018, Ariana Grande announced via her official Twitter account that a documentary series following her 2017 Dangerous Woman Tour was set to be released.[3]Vanity Fair's Josh Duboff commented that "the quality is pretty lo-fi—most of the footage has the feel of a friend holding a camera or phone up in Grande’s face, or following her as she moves about a studio or set."[4] The documentary was not initially intended to be created until after the tour ended, so the performances shown in the series were all recorded on different dates throughout the tour.[1]
On November 28, 2018, it was announced that the series had been titled Ariana Grande: Dangerous Woman Diaries and consisted of four episodes directed by Alfredo Flores and produced by YouTube Premium. The series was released to YouTube Premium subscribers via Grande's official YouTube channel on November 29, 2018 with each episode of the series made available for free on Thursdays through December 20, 2018.[1][5]
Episodes
No.
Title
Directed by
Original release date
1
"The Light Is Coming"
Alfredo Flores
November 29, 2018 (2018-11-29)
2
"Here's the Gag"
Alfredo Flores
November 29, 2018 (2018-11-29)
3
"Grateful"
Alfredo Flores
November 29, 2018 (2018-11-29)
4
"One Love"
Alfredo Flores
November 29, 2018 (2018-11-29)
Reception
In a positive review, Decider's Kayla Cobb praised the series and recommended that audiences "Stream it for sure. Ariana Grande is an increasingly fascinating celebrity with a touching relationship with her fans. She's one of the good things out there, and we all need to celebrate our pop queen more."[6]
In a more mixed critique, Common Sense Media's Melissa Camacho awarded the series three out of five stars criticized the series saying, "If you’re not an Ariana Grande fan, you won't find much here beyond a lot of self-promotion. But chances are that tween and younger teen fans will find a lot of fun here."[7]
