Ariana Grande is ready for new beginnings. People confirmed on Tuesday that the pop star, 30, had left longtime manager Scooter Braun after a decade of working together. Now a source close to the situation says it was Grande’s call to leave Braun, 42, and his company.
“They are friendly but she’s outgrown him and is excited to go in a different direction,” says the source. “Yes there are negotiations happening because of contracts. But this is her choice. It’s time for something new.” Reps for Grande and Braun have not commented on the situation.
A music industry source with knowledge of the situation previously told PEOPLE that “all of Scooter Braun’s clients are under contract and negotiations have been going on for several months as Scooter steps into his larger role as HYBE America CEO,” adding, “People are spreading rumors based on what they know, but they are off. Scooter’s team at SB Projects are still handling both Justin [Bieber] and Ariana as they work through what this new structure looks like.”
Grande first signed with Braun ahead of the release of her 2013 debut album Yours Truly. He managed the star through her subsequent releases, including her 2014 album My Everything, 2016’s Dangerous Woman, 2018’s Sweetener, 2019’s Thank U, Next and 2020’s Positions.
In 2018 Braun opened up to Variety about a brief hiatus in their working relationship after Grande fired — then rehired — him before the release of her 2016 record.
“They were like, ‘Never take her back!,’ but I just said ‘Let’s stay quiet and let our truth be our actions,'” Braun told the outlet about his team’s reaction. “She starts to see the light on some stuff, and one day I got a phone call.”
Braun — who became the sole CEO of HYBE America in January (his company Ithaca Holdings merged with HYBE in April 2021) — added that the situation made him a “better manager.”
After the flurry of reports about the comings and goings of his longtime clients (a source also confirmed to PEOPLE on Monday that Demi Lovato had parted ways with Braun after four years together), Braun appeared to poke fun at the situation, joking on X (formerly Twitter) that he was “no longer managing myself.”
