“I don’t do this! Oh my god, I’m new here.” Ariana Grande didn’t have the most confident of starts with her first YouTube video for R.E.M. Beauty. But for better or worse, the platform’s beauty community comes with the territory of launching a makeup line, and so the “Positions” singer persevered — with the help of makeup artist and YouTuber Gottmik — in a chatty Tuesday (March 1) video titled “Wingin’ It” to show off her new products.
“I’m really proud of this s–t,” the two-time Grammy winner said of her brand, which launched in November, after laughing and tearing up over the video’s rocky start. After getting some words of encouragement from her guest — “I’m so glad you got that off your chest,” the RuPaul’s Drag Race alum laughed — the pair proceeded to test out and talk about their favorite products from the line.
While doing each other’s makeup, Grande revealed that she began working on R.E.M. Beauty over two years ago — all the way back when she was still touring in support of her 2018 album Sweetener. “Tour was a great time to test things on stage,” she told the drag star, who was the first transgender man to compete on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
The “Positions” singer didn’t go full drag in the new video. Instead, Gottmik did Grande’s makeup with a lighter touch, saying, “We’re gonna give you like a baby, girly version of what I have going.”
The 28-year-old pop star is far from the first big name to have their face done by Gottmik, aka Kade Gottlieb. Gottlieb has worked with Kaia Gerber and Heidi Klum, and was the artist behind Lil Nas X’s iconic Nicki Minaj Halloween costume in 2020.
Watch Gottmik ease Ariana Grande into the YouTube beauty landscape in R.E.M. Beauty’s adorable new video below:
NEWS
Oliver Tree’s team has provided a new update following the singer’s death in a helicopter crash on June 14, confirming that a new artist grant will soon be established in his memory to help creatives secure funding, a plan he had detailed in his will before his passing.
Accompanying a collection of photos highlighting Tree’s performances, travels and creative work through the years, a post shared Sunday (June 21) on his Instagram account revealed that the musician’s remains have been brought back to California, the state he called home and where he will be laid to rest. “His legacy will live on through his foundation/endowment named ‘Dr. Oliver Tree’s Extremely Epic Grant For Baby Geniuses’ coming soon,” the caption reads. “This is something that Oliver had put together before his passing.”
“We will make sure his wish comes to fruition so that more joy, love and art can be spread into the world, that was his final wish,” the statement continued, adding that “the constant love, support and positivity” shown by fans throughout the past week has helped his “family, friends and collaborators make it through these extremely difficult times.”
Tree was among six people who lost their lives in a helicopter collision in Rio de Janeiro. The musician was in Brazil for his The World’s First Tour run and had performed what would ultimately be his final concert on June 6 in São Paulo. The other victims of the crash were identified as passengers Lucas Vignale, Gaspar Prim and Lucas Brito Chaves, along with pilots Alexandre Souza and Charles Marsillac.
Just months before his death, Tree discussed his plans to direct his fortune and future earnings from his music toward a grant program for artists during an appearance on the Zach Sang Show. “I take no credit for anything I’ve ever done,” he said during the April interview. “Furthermore, I don’t believe that any of the wealth or things that get made from it is mine. So when I die … my will is set up so that when I pass, my family, nobody is going to get a penny.”
“If I have a wife or kids or anything, they’re not getting a penny,” he added at the time, explaining that the initiative would focus on helping artists create work rather than funding education. “I’ll get my kids through college, that’s the agreement, but there’s not gonna be a silver spoon. All the money is going to go back to artists.”
