Ariana Grande soft-launches Ricky Alvarez relationship

Ariana Grande appears to be taking her rumoured relationship with Ricky Alvarez forward.

On Monday, July 27, the pop icon shared a photo dump on Instagram as she celebrates “petal season,” i.e., the build-up to her highly-anticipated eighth studio album, petal. The carousel post consisted of images from her ongoing eternal sunshine tour, behind-the-scenes rehearsal moments, and day-to-day life.

Notably, Alvarez also made an appearance in several slides.

Though his face was not visible, Grande, 33, and Alvarez, 35, were seen cheering two green olives in the fifth slide. In it, Grande tagged Alvarez.

The next slide showed Grande sipping on wine, but the photograph appears to have been taken by Alvarez, who she tagged again.

Grande first sparked a relationship with Alvarez from 2016 to 2016, when he served as a backup dancer on her Honeymoon tour.

However, they sparked reconciliation rumours earlier this month — weeks after Grande’s split from her longtime partner Ethan Slater was announced.

While performing her 2019 hit Thank U, Next, the Grammy-winner changed the lyrics from “Wrote some songs about Ricky, now I listen and laugh” to “Wrote some songs about Ricky, we always find our way back.”

Soon after, sources confirmed to TMZ and People magazine that the pair have indeed reconciled.