If you try to find the music video for Ariana Grande Put Your Hearts Up on her official YouTube channel today, you’re basically on a hunt for a ghost. It isn't there. For most A-list pop stars, a debut single is a badge of honor or at least a nostalgic milestone. For Ariana? It’s a literal nightmare she tried to scrub from the internet.
Honestly, the track is a fascinatng time capsule. Released on December 12, 2011, it arrived when Ariana was still the bubbly, red-headed Cat Valentine on Nickelodeon’s Victorious. The song is pure bubblegum. It samples the 1993 hit "What's Up?" by 4 Non Blondes, but instead of the original's gritty angst, we got lyrics about "resurrecting Gandhi" and "resurrecting King." It was aggressively wholesome.
Why she actually hates it
Ariana hasn't held back about her distate for this era. In a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, she famously called the experience "the worst moment of my life." That's a pretty heavy statement for someone who has lived through what she has.
The disconnect was simple: she wanted to make R&B and soulful pop, but the label wanted a teen star. They gave her a "bad spray tan," stuffed her into a pink princess dress, and told her to frolic around the street. She told Seventeen magazine that the song felt "inauthentic and fake." It was a product geared toward children, and even back then, Ariana knew it wasn't who she was as an artist.
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The music video "hell"
The video was shot in November 2011 and directed by Meiert Avis and Jeremy Alter. It features a CGI butterfly, some very "musical theater" choreography, and Ariana dancing in the rain with an umbrella. About 100 fans actually got to be in the shoot, which sounds like a dream for a 2011 Arianator, but for the singer, it was "straight out of hell."
She eventually made the label hide the video on her Vevo page. It’s been set to private, made public briefly in 2014, and then deleted again. If you want to see it now, you have to look for unofficial re-uploads from fans who refuse to let the "bubblegum era" die.
The stats you probably didn't know
Despite her personal feelings, Ariana Grande Put Your Hearts Up wasn't a total flop. It just wasn't the "The Way" level of success that would eventually define her career.
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- Sales: It sold about 170,000 downloads by August 2013.
- Certifications: Interestingly, the RIAA certified it Gold in July 2014. That means it moved over 500,000 units when you factor in streams.
- The "The Way" Effect: As soon as "The Way" dropped in March 2013, Ariana’s team moved fast to pivot. They wanted people to see her as a Mariah Carey-esque vocal powerhouse, not a Nick kid.
Credits and production
The song was written by Matt Squire, Linda Perry (who actually wrote the original 4 Non Blondes track), and Martin Johnson. At the time, it was intended to be the lead single for her debut album, which was then titled Daydreamin'. When that album eventually became Yours Truly, "Put Your Hearts Up" was nowhere to be found on the tracklist. It was effectively disowned.
The legacy of a "mistake"
There is a weirdly charming silver lining here. Because Ariana hated the process so much, it forced her to take control. She realized that if she didn't speak up, she’d be stuck in the "princess dress" lane forever. It's the reason she fought for the 90s R&B sound of her first album.
Fans still joke about it. In 2019, a group of fans on Twitter even tried to organize a "streaming party" for the song just to troll her. She’s aware of the memes. She’s even joked about the "Cat Valentine voice" she used back then.
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If you’re a newer fan, listening to the track is a trip. The vocals are undeniably good—she’s always been able to sing—but the production is pure "Disney Channel Original Movie." It’s a reminder that even the biggest stars in the world start out in situations where they have zero creative control.
How to find it today
Since it's not on her official pages, your best bet is searching "Put Your Hearts Up 4K" on YouTube; several archive accounts have upscaled it. It's also still available on some streaming platforms like Apple Music under the original single release, though it's often missing from her "essential" playlists.
If you want to understand the evolution of Ariana Grande, you have to look at what she was running away from. This song is the starting line. It might be cringey, and she might have nightmares about that spray tan, but it’s the reason she became the artist who eventually gave us Thank U, Next.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Listen to "What's Up?" by 4 Non Blondes: Comparing the two tracks shows exactly how much the 2011 production stripped away the soul of the original melody.
- Compare the Vocals: Listen to the "Put Your Hearts Up" bridge and then listen to "Honeymoon Avenue." You can hear her trying to break out of the bubblegum shell even back then.
- Check the Vevo Archives: If you're a completionist, search for fan-uploaded "Behind the Scenes" footage of the music video to see the "princess dress" in all its 2011 glory.