Ariana Grande Showed The Original "Yours Truly" Artwork, And It's So Much Worse Than I Could Have Imagined

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Ariana Grande reminded everyone what the original artwork was for Yours Truly, and good lord...well, it's not great.

Closeup of Ariana Grande holding a drink and sunglasses at Wilbledon
Karwai Tang / WireImage

If your mind has also become a withered husk over the years, then allow me (by which I mean Google) to refresh it: In 2013, Ariana was about to release her debut album. However, the road was far from smooth, as she ditched almost an entire album's worth of material, pushed back the release date, and changed the title from Daydreamin' to, ya know, Yours Truly.

Closeup of Ariana Grande posing for the camera on the red carpet

Another creative change left on the cutting room floor was the cover art. As part of her celebrations for the 10th anniversary of her debut, Ariana did a TikTok Q&A where she was asked, "Mother what made you change the cover from this to the released one?"

"Well, it’s horrible,” Ariana replied. “It's not horrible, it is — you were right. You guys got very angry when you saw it. I was very sad about that, and I changed it. You were right, but you're not always right."

Screenshot from Ariana's TikTok

With lilts of a Transatlantic accent, she continued, "Your bullying has been consistent for the past 10 years, so there's that. You hated it, you were like, ‘This is fucking ugly, mom, change it.’ So I did. Sometimes that works. Sometimes it leaves me with wounds that make me question everything I've done since. Just kidding."

Closeup of Ariana Grande

So! Here's the album cover that we all know:

"Yours Truly" album cover which is a black-and-white photo of Ariana looking off camera
Republic

And...behold, the original!

"Yours Truly" original cover image of Ariana kneeling in a bed of roses
Republic

Like, this was the final version. It was even announced. Oh, sweet Photoshop.

Closeup of Ariana Grande
Republic

Well then!