Pop star Ariana Grande has filed a lawsuit against two unidentified hackers who, she claims, leaked unreleased music and studio footage after gaining access to her collaborators’ computers.
In papers filed in Los Angeles and reported by US media outlets, the singer alleged the hackers had targeted photographers and producers’ in order to access material that was sold “on the dark web” for “significant sums of money”.
“In 2023 alone, 45 unreleased songs belonging to Ms Grande were hacked, stolen, and leaked,” the documents said. “Since her music debut in 2011, hundreds of similar leaks have taken place.”
Her lawyers said she was initiating legal action to uncover the identity of the hackers.
Grande has previously expressed her desire to hold hackers accountable for leaking unreleased music.
During an interview with the Zach Sang show in 2024, she spoke about a song called Fantasize, written with Swedish pop savant Max Martin, which went viral after being posted online.
“Before I left for Wicked – [there were] a few studio sessions that I did which are all over TikTok, thank you so much, I’ll see you in jail. Literally,” she said.
“Those were all written for a TV show, for something that was not for me, so Fantasize comes out, crazy, was stolen… These pirates, crooks, illegal!”
Her legal case outlined an alleged pattern of illegal behaviour, in which the accounts of Grande’s co-workers were systematically targeted over several years.
In 2025, it claimed, the defendants hacked into the mobile device of a producer who had collaborated with Grande and accessed unreleased masters, demos and footage from recording sessions.
The previous year, the suit claimed, hackers created an email account impersonating a photographer, and persuaded a digital technician to send them unreleased photos that belonged to Grande.
The singer accused the hackers of violating the “sacred relationship that exists between her and her fans” and is suing for invasion of privacy, violation of California computer hacking laws, and conversion.
Her lawyers said the “malicious invasion of Ms. Grande’s privacy and disruption of her career have caused her substantial and irreparable harm due to this breach of privacy.”
The court filing comes as Grande prepares for the release of her eighth studio album, Petal, this Friday.
She is currently in the middle of a world tour, which is due to hit the UK in August.
Grande previously hinted the concerts would be her last for “a long time”.
“I’m going to give it my all and it’s going to be beautiful,” she told Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast. “I think that’s why I’m doing it because I’m like: ‘One last hurrah’ – for now.”
By BBC News
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