Ariana Grande has paid tribute to her late ex-boyfriend, Mac Miller. The “Break Free” singer released the deluxe edition of her debut album Yours Truly, which included versions of “The Way,” a collaboration with Miller.
The release came with a video, a moving image of the Yours Truly (Tenth Anniversary Edition) album cover with different elements fading out, except the words “Feat. Mac Miller.” At the song’s end, the cover faded out to a black screen but for Miller’s name, which glowed in white.
Though “The Way’s” newer version otherwise stuck to its original production, the upbeat instrumental played during Miller’s second rap verse was replaced with an orchestral string component.
@arianagrande ♡ #10YearsOfYoursTruly ♡ thank you for everything always
♬ original sound – arianagrande
Ariana Grande also released a Spanglish version of the song with the new album re-release. The release of Yours Truly’s deluxe edition is part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of the debut album, which was released on August 30, 2013.
The original release topped the Billboard 200 chart, and The Way made the 10th spot on the Billboard Hot 100. As part of the celebrations, the 30-year-old took part in a Q&A on TikTok. In response to one question, she named The Way as “the most fun” music video to shoot.
“We had no budget, didn’t even tell the label that we were gonna do it,” she explained. “Made it ourselves, and we said listen, we have a camera, we have a projector, we have music, we have balloons, we got dancers.
“We didn’t have any budget or anything, we just made it. (We) showed it to the label, ’cause they brought it up to me. They were like, ‘We need to shoot a music video,’ and I was like, ‘We already did it.'”
Ariana Grande and Mac Miller, real name Malcolm McCormick, dated between 2016 and May 2018. He died from an accidental drug overdose in September 2018 at age 26.