It is a bizarre thing to look back at 2010. Remember Cat Valentine? She was that bubbly, pale, red-headed girl on Victorious who sounded like she’d swallowed a helium balloon. If you’d told a Nickelodeon fan back then that the same girl would one day be accused of "becoming" a different race to sell records, they’d have laughed in your face.
But then 2019 happened.
The term Ariana Grande blackfishing basically took over the internet around the time "7 Rings" dropped. It wasn't just a handful of grumpy people on Twitter. It was a massive, industry-wide conversation about how white pop stars use Black aesthetics as a costume. Honestly, the shift was jarring. You’ve probably seen the side-by-side photos. One year she’s fair-skinned with a ponytail; the next, she’s several shades darker than the Black women standing right next to her on stage.
What is blackfishing, anyway?
Let’s get the definition straight because people love to argue about this. Journalist Wanna Thompson actually coined the term "blackfishing." It describes when white or non-Black people use makeup, tanning, surgery, or hairstyles to appear Black or racially ambiguous.
It’s not just about a tan.
It’s about the "look" of Blackness being treated as a trend that you can take off at the end of the day. For Ariana, the evidence wasn’t just one thing. It was a whole recipe. You had the heavy spray tans, the sudden shift in her vocal cadence (often called a "blaccent"), and the heavy reliance on trap beats and AAVE (African American Vernacular English).
The "7 Rings" breaking point
If you want to see where this really peaked, look at the music video for "7 Rings."
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The video was drenched in pink, but the imagery was pure trap house aesthetic. People were quick to point out the irony. Here was a woman from an incredibly wealthy Florida background, daughter of CEOs, singing about "I want it, I got it" while leaning into a "hood" persona. Princess Nokia even called her out, noting that the song sounded suspiciously like her own track "Mine," which was literally about Black women and their hair.
"Ain’t that a little song I made about brown women and their hair? Sounds about white," Nokia said in a now-deleted video.
It wasn't just the music.
At the 2016 VMAs, Ariana performed "Side to Side" with Nicki Minaj. There are photos from that night where Ariana's skin tone is visibly darker than Nicki’s. Nicki Minaj is a Black woman from Trinidad. Ariana is 100% Italian-American. That visual disconnect is what really fueled the Ariana Grande blackfishing fire.
The "Italian" defense doesn't really work
A lot of fans—and Ariana herself at times—pointed to her Southern Italian heritage. "Italians tan dark!" was the rallying cry.
Sure, that's true. But there is a difference between a summer glow and a calculated aesthetic shift that aligns perfectly with a move into R&B music. Critics noticed a pattern: when she was doing bubblegum pop, she was pale. When she moved into "Dangerous Woman" and "Thank U, Next," the tan got deeper.
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Interestingly, when she did high-fashion covers for Vogue or Time, the tan often vanished. She’d appear on the cover of British Vogue with blonde hair, freckles, and very pale skin. This "shapeshifting" is what experts like Steven Gamble point to as the core problem. It feels like she’s a chameleon who picks a race based on the "vibe" of her current album cycle.
The pivot to "Asianfishing"
Just as the blackfishing talk started to cool down, a new controversy hit. In 2021, Ariana posted photos that looked... different. Gone was the deep tan and the "baddie" aesthetic. Instead, she was wearing winged eyeliner that elongated her eyes, using very pale foundation, and leaning into "aegyo" (a Korean cute aesthetic) vibes.
Suddenly, the internet moved from Ariana Grande blackfishing to "Asianfishing."
It felt like she’d moved on from one "exotic" look to another because East Asian aesthetics were becoming the new global trend thanks to K-pop. She deleted the photos pretty quickly after the backlash, which kinda shows she’s aware of the discourse, even if she rarely addresses it head-on in interviews.
Why this actually matters (It’s not just "Twitter drama")
You might think, "Who cares? It's just makeup."
But there’s a real-world impact here. When a white artist like Ariana adopts these features, she’s praised for being "edgy," "trendy," or "versatile." Meanwhile, Black women who naturally have those features or use those styles are often labeled as "unprofessional" or "ghetto."
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It’s about power.
Ariana gets to profit from the "cool factor" of Black culture without ever having to deal with the systemic racism that comes with actually being Black. She can wash the tan off. She can go back to being a "white" pop star whenever it suits her.
So, what can we learn from this?
Looking back at the whole Ariana Grande blackfishing saga, it’s a masterclass in how modern celebrity branding works.
- Cultural consumption vs. appreciation. It’s fine to love R&B. It’s another thing to try and "look" the part by darkening your skin.
- The power of the "Ethnically Ambiguous" look. In the 2020s, being "just white" isn't as marketable in pop as being "unclear." Brands and artists love to be everything to everyone.
- Accountability is weird. Ariana hasn't really "canceled." Her voice is too good, and her songs are too catchy. People mostly just... moved on.
If you're a creator or just a fan, the move here is to be mindful of where your "inspiration" comes from. Enjoy the music, but don't ignore the very real history behind the aesthetics. If you want to dive deeper into this, check out some of the actual Black creators who were talking about this back in 2019, like Wanna Thompson or the writers at The Root. They offer a perspective that goes way beyond "she looks too tan."
The most important takeaway is to keep a critical eye on the "costumes" pop stars wear. Culture isn't an accessory, even if the biggest stars in the world treat it like one.
Next Steps for Understanding This Topic:
To get the full picture, you should look at the visual evolution of Ariana's album covers from Yours Truly to Eternal Sunshine. Pay close attention to the lighting and skin retouching used in her R.E.M. Beauty campaigns versus her earlier makeup looks. Understanding the "Instagram Baddie" era of 2016-2019 is also key to seeing how her look was part of a much larger (and very problematic) internet trend.