Thank U, Next: A Look at Ariana Grande’s Engagement Rings
With the release of Ariana Grande’s new album ‘Positions’—a pop confessional written about her ex-husband-to-be, real estate agent Dalton Gomez—we take a look at Ariana’s past relationships and the music inspired by them! Her lusty new album reminds us that her music is always deeply personal. ‘Sweetener’, her album released in 2018 following her break up with Pete Davidson, was smokey and melancholic, and her 2019 single ‘thank u, next’ was full of saucy, fun tracks that told us she was over it and ready to move on. Over the years, Ariana has received quite a few engagement rings too—in this post, we explore the stories behind her beautiful jewellery!
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Should an engagement ring only signify your relationship with your significant other? Or can a ring signify eternal love for some of our most profound relationships, our friendships? As trailblazer feminist writer Pheobe Waller Bridge reminds us, friendships can be “the greatest romances of our lives”.
Ariana’s jewellery journey proves just this. When she broke up with her fiancé Pete Davidson she returned her dazzling pear cut engagement ring and in exchange purchased her and all her friends engagement rings which they toasted over champagne. What began as some fun retail therapy turned out to be a profound moment for this group of girlfriends. It proves that friendship is what gets us through the tough times.
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Love has no fixed appearance and no planned arrival date. What Phoebe and Ariana have to show us is that perhaps we need to develop a whole new vocabulary when it comes to talking about our friends. We don’t need to categorise our love so strictly into the binaries of partner, family, friends. Expressing your unbounding adoration for your friends through a diamond ring is just one way to explore how we can live our love without limits. In the face of a breakup, Ariana did just this and it subsequently served as the inspiration for her song, ‘7 rings’.
To take an in-depth look at Ariana Grande’s engagement ring and jewellery journey, we’ll start most recently with engagement and marriage to estate agent, Dalton Gomez.
After almost a year of dating, the pop star took to Instagram to announce their engagement alongside some sweet photos of the pair and her unique engagement ring with the caption ‘forever n then some’. Dalton proposed to Ariana with an asymmetrically-set oval diamond and round pearl platinum engagement ring.
Fans are also speculating that there’s a sweet and sentimental meaning behind the ring’s design. Back in 2014, Grande tweeted about a pearl ring that her grandmother had made for her, featuring the pearl from her grandfather’s tie pin. While it’s unconfirmed whether the ring features the exact pearl, it’s clear that pearls hold an important and special place in Ariana’s heart and is likely why her engagement ring features the lustrous stone.
nonna had a ring made for me w/ the pearl from grandpa’s tie pin. she says he told her in a dream it’d protect me. <3 pic.twitter.com/BkvGSfuGWh
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) October 28, 2014
“This isn’t unusual” says our Design Director, Kate Earlam-Charnley. “We saw this a couple of years ago with Harry & Meghan. Harry thoughtfully included two round diamonds from his mother’s personal collection as a way “to make sure that she’s with us on this crazy journey together”. Repurposing heirloom jewellery or featuring materials once owned by loved ones in engagement rings adds sentiment to an already treasured item of jewellery.”
In addition to the sweet sentiment behind the design, Ariana’s engagement ring embodies several of jewellery’s most prominent trends.
The oval diamond shape is growing in popularity with elongated ratios seeing a particular growth. Elongated ovals maximise the scintillation (the reflections of light) in diamonds–resulting in their iconic sparkle.
We estimate Ariana’s ring size to be an I 1/2 which would mean the oval diamond is a whopping 12mm in length, equivalent to around 3 carats.
Kate Earlam-Charnley, Design Director
Kate also goes on to say that “the cut on this diamond is extraordinary and has been carefully crafted to maximise the light performance. The diamond is likely a D colour and at this size is likely a very high clarity grade – a VVS2 or even a FL. Assuming a high colour and clarity combination, it would be reasonable to assume Grande’s ring cost anywhere in the region of £110,000 to £250,000”.
Ariana’s oval diamond looks to have a perfect 1.6 ratio and is held securely in place by small platinum rounded eagle claws. The pearl is around 5mm, however, pearls are a softer gem and are prone to being easily marked when worn everyday. As a result, we often recommend using a star sapphire. Star sapphires offer a remarkably similar appearance to pearls and are an exceptionally hard wearing gem, perfect for everyday.
Since Emily Ratajkowski’s engagement ring design hit the scene, we’ve seen a huge increase in demand for asymmetrical toi et moi styles.
Kate Earlam-Charnley, Design Director
Meaning ‘me and you’ in French, the name alone evokes feelings of romance. The style worn on Ariana’s left hand, features two centre stones and offers a great opportunity for customisation as each one is entirely unique–combine different styles, shapes, sizes, colours and alignments.
To create your very own Ariana Grande engagement ring, there’s plenty of options that won’t require such a hefty price point. If you’ve fallen for the toi et moi style, custom designs begin at £1,500 and you can play around with diamond options until you’ve found the perfect one.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for something featuring an oval diamond in a unique way, our Purity and Lissome engagement ring designs combine tradition with sculptural and sumptuous curves.
Three rings inspired by Ariana's oval ring
Now we cast our thoughts back to Ariana’s first engagement ring–the edgy pear diamond given to her by her then boyfriend, Pete Davidson. After meeting in March 2016 during an SNL live episode, Pete and Ariana officially became a couple in 2018, and became engaged only a couple of months later. Pete proposed to Ariana with a 3 carat fancy cut pear diamond, surrounded by diamond halo and set on a band accented with diamond pavé.
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Pear cut diamonds have recently become a favourite of the fancy diamond cuts. Their sharp tip and rounded bottom combines everything that is wonderful about the marquise and oval diamond shapes. Reminiscent of a raindrop or one half of a heart shape, pear shaped diamonds are elegant yet playful. Pete Davidson chose well, as a pear shape is best suited to Ariana’s feminine, flirty style! Encircling the centre diamond, Ariana’s ring featured a halo and pavé, which added a glamorous accent to the ring and gave the appearance of a larger diamond.
If you feel inspired by Ariana’s pear shaped engagement ring, take a look at a few of our pear engagement ring styles below:
Three rings inspired by Ariana's pear diamond ring
While Ariana’s engagement with Pete didn’t last, the memory of her beautiful engagement ring did! The famous couple parted ways in October 2018. But when romance fails, a breakup anthem and the love of friends rushes in to pick up the pieces. It just goes to show that each time we try to put a boundary around love, it defies limitations and finds its way into our life in a whole new form. And what better way to honour the tender and steadfast love of a friend than with a round brilliant diamond solitaire engagement ring? Well—there probably are some other ways, but not for Ariana. She shows us that making a lifelong commitment of love and care doesn’t need to be reserved exclusively for a romantic partner. She put the ‘forever’ back into BFF.
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Our round diamond engagement ring styles are fully customisable, in case you are in the mood to celebrate your best friend– why not gift a ring and engrave both of your names in it? Or, incorporate each other’s birthstone into the ring?
Ariana's round diamond friendship rings
To celebrate a friendship, customise a ring with an engraving of you and your best friend’s favourite emoji. This is a charming way to represent two personalities, but also represents modern communication, as we spend much of our time chatting to our friends through texts.
We love that Ariana put her own twist on this tradition, especially after a break up. Friendships are full of love and commitment. The joy that a great friendship brings doesn’t need to be compared to romantic love: it is its own kind of devotion. Tender, exciting, and unwavering, friendships are essential, and like family, are something wonderful to commemorate in a piece of jewellery. We are so glad to see Ariana Grande celebrate this beautiful sentiment alongside new-found romance!
