Ariana Grande and Ricky Alvarez walked their first red carpet as a couple on Wednesday, November 11, at the New York City premiere of Focker-in-Law. The Beacon Theatre. Cameras everywhere. Grande stood close to Alvarez and leaned into him as they posed, according to E! Online.
Ariana Grande and Ricky Alvarez at the Beacon Theatre
Just Jared called it the first time the two had ever walked a red carpet together, despite their long history. Page Six put it simply: Grande turned heads as the pair made their debut after rekindling their romance.
Grande was there for work, too. She is the franchise newcomer in the sequel, playing Olivia Jones, the new fiancee of Henry Focker. Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro return as Greg Focker and Jack Byrnes, alongside Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner and Teri Polo. John Hamburg wrote and directed. The movie opens November 25.
Her own film. Her own premiere. She brought him.
White Ribbon, Dark Jeans
Grande wore a white gown with a black pattern and pulled her short bob into a ponytail tied with a white ribbon. E! Online described the look as chic.
Alvarez went another way. A white button-up shirt and a black dress jacket, paired with dark blue jeans. E! called it a slightly more surprising fashion choice, which is a polite way of noting that jeans showed up at a world premiere.
The Lyric Change and the Matching Tattoo
Grande, 33, and Alvarez, 35, first dated from 2015 to 2016. Alvarez is her former backup dancer. Reports that they had reunited surfaced while the singer was on tour this year.
Grande answered those reports from the stage. In thank u, next, the original line says she wrote songs about Ricky and now listens and laughs. On tour she swapped it for something else entirely, per E! Online: “I’m tryna make him my last.”
Then came the ink. In August she showed a new tattoo reading “I do love you,” the same phrase Alvarez already has on his collarbone. Last week brought an Instagram photo dump, and a November 7 video in which a blindfolded Alvarez guessed her R.E.M. Beauty lip products through kisses. He got every one right, including a product that had not been released yet.
Why the Red Carpet Came Last
Lyrics, then a tattoo, then Instagram, then the carpet. Grande let the relationship out in pieces, each one a little louder than the last, and the most traditional public step came at the very end.
Second chances tend to go that way. A couple who split once has already had a public ending. Coming back means facing the same audience that watched it close, and a lot of people would rather test the ground quietly before standing in front of photographers. Grande rewrote a breakup song in front of arena crowds before she ever posed next to him. The song came first. The photo op came second.
Ten years ago this relationship ended and became a lyric about laughing it off. Now the lyric says something different, and there is a premiere photo to match. Ariana Grande and Ricky Alvarez made their red carpet debut together at the Focker In-Law premiere.
Sources: Just Jared, E! Online, Page Six
