Ariana Grande Cries Onstage During Mac Miller Tribute

Ariana Grande‘s Sweetener World Tour stopped in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Wednesday night, and left the pop star very emotional.

Pittsburgh is the hometown of the late rapper Mac Miller, who passed away in September 2018. He and Grande dated for around two years, taking their relationship public in 2016 before splitting in May 2018.

According to audience members, Grande became so emotional while performing her song “Thank U, Next,” which references Miller, real name Malcolm James McCormick, that she couldn’t complete the line dedicated to him in the song, which reads, “Wish I could say thank you to Malcolm / ’cause he was an angel.”

While she barely made it through the first few words of the line, she became too choked up to say the rapper’s name, with her fans stepping in and loudly singing in support before Grande joined back in for the rest of the song.

KC Prior, who attended the show, told KDKA that it was clear “how heartbroken” Grande was and that “no one seemed to be mad at the arena that she didn’t mention him.”

Prior added that “the arena was the loudest at that moment [when Grande became too choked up to sing Miller’s name]” and that because she couldn’t complete the line, “everyone else did it for her.”

Grande also became emotional during the show’s opening number, “Raindrops (An Angel Cried),” which is rumored to be about her relationship with Miller.

Miller’s music was played before Grande’s show began, though audience members at the tour’s first stop in Albany, New York in March had shared that Miller’s music was playing before that show as well, a tradition Grande has clearly kept up. Fans also noted that an empty seat was reserved for miller in PPG Paints Arena, another custom Grande has been honoring at every Sweetener show.

This week was also a bittersweet one for Miller’s fans, as the rapper’s first posthumous verse was released on Tuesday on the Free Nationals’ “Time.”

Miller passed away of an accidental overdose at 26 years old and Grande has paid tribute to her late ex-boyfriend on social media multiple times since his death. Several songs on her most recent albums, Sweetener and Thank U, Next are also rumored to be about Miller.

Photo Credit: Getty / Kevin Mazur