Ariana Grande’s Obsession With Japanese Culture: Appreciation or Appropriation?
Tags: Pop Culture, Cultural Appropriation, Ariana Grande, Japan, Japanese

“Whoever said money can’t solve your problems must not have had enough money to solve ‘em.” These are lyrics from Ariana Grande’s recent single “7 Rings”, an ostentatious anthem about the joys of being rich. “I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it” isn’t just the ideology of Christopher Columbus, it’s Ariana’s new mantra. For someone with so much wealth, Ariana lacks the intelligence to utilize it in a way that doesn’t make her look foolish. In anticipation of her fifth studio album “thank u, next” Japanese imagery and kanji has been sprinkled over the promotion as if it’s parsley. It started with the release of her single “Imagine.” The cover art is a close-up of Ariana’s open mouth, with the Japanese kanji for “imagination” in the middle.

English was the only language spoken throughout the track, the kanji merely serving as a way to make the cover appear more interesting. This was initially seen as questionable, but not so damning that a discussion needed to be had. Ariana was given an inch and subsequently took an entire mile. Ariana has become so comfortable with her appropriation of Japanese culture that she decided to forego any and all quality assurance. A now-deleted Instagram post directed at her fans to promote 7 Rings featured a weird mash-up of katakana and random lines manipulated to appear as though they were Asian script. For what it’s worth, 7 Rings is spelt correctly in Japanese within the music video, but that only makes it all the more confusing that she went out of her way to make it look “cooler.” Unfortunately, Ariana’s shenanigans don’t stop there, in fact, they only become more absurd.

Fu Ya E????

The singer’s album merchandise includes a crewneck that simply says ありがとう (Thank you in Japanese) and nothing else. Considering this is Ariana’s 5th album, it’s safe to say she’s a veteran in the music industry. She has found commercial success without having to fall back on other cultures for some sort of trivial “exotic” factor, so why now? Ariana is admittedly passionate about Japan and Japanese culture, so much that she began taking Japanese lessons in 2015. These lessons didn’t stop her from completely botching a tattoo on her palm. What was meant to be 7 rings, actually came out as barbecue grill, and ultimately became wheel heart 7 finger, or barbecue grill finger heart depending on which way you read it.

How uninspired can merchandise be?

Ariana responded to the cultural appropriation criticisms by victimizing herself, claiming that studying Japanese was something that she was passionate about and did because it brought her joy. She revealed she had plans to move to Japan one day, but would instead stop taking Japanese lessons. Lessons that we now know have become so infrequent she only meets her Japanese tutor in person once a year. This coming from an abundantly rich white woman, who just a few days earlier said her tattoo still looked “tight” even though it was incorrect, is rich, pun intended.

Regardless of how passionate Ariana is, there’s no excuse for attempting to tie her album to Japanese culture when there’s zero correlation. As someone who’s lived in Tokyo for almost 5 years, I understand how difficult Japanese is. That’s why I keep the app imiwa? Installed on my iPhone and refer to Japanese friends whenever I’m confused about something. Had she simply owned up to the mistake rather than victimizing herself and doubling down on the foolishness that sparked this dumpster fire to begin with, her PR team would sleep easier at night.

If Ariana were truly invested in having Japanese influence on her album, she would have used her massive wealth in order to secure proper Japanese talent. She could have hired Japanese artists to do the single covers, Japanese dancers for her music videos, or better yet actually reached out to other Japanese pop acts such as Perfume or Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. Arguably the biggest pop star in the world right now, I find it hard to believe Ariana would have difficulty getting Japanese talent to be a part of her creative vision. Ariana has collaborated with Japanese people in the past, getting her own character in the mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. I don’t know if nobody bothered to exchange business cards or Ariana just couldn’t be bothered to put in the effort, but she certainly had the means to do so.

One of *many* variations of Ariana in the mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius

It’s perfectly fine to think Japanese looks cool, it is a behemoth of a language, consisting of 3 separate writing systems in addition to thousands of unique characters. You’d be right to be in awe coming from English. Even so, to stick your head in the sand when people rightfully accuse you of taking from their culture, bastardizing/profiting off it while offering nothing but your “passion” in return is disgraceful. Ariana is singlehandedly erasing any hint of self-growth that was alluded to in Sweetner by failing to do due diligence for something as major as an album release. I suppose I’ll brace myself for the inevitableしょうがない sweatshirts she puts out for her Thank You, Next tour merchandise.