There are several things that Ariana Grande has become well-known for: her high swinging ponytail, her white heels, and the elegantly provocative pose she pulled while modeling on a stool on her 2014 album art for My Everything.
But one man is not convinced that the pop star, or anyone for that matter, can indeed pull off such a bold balancing act on such a tiny stool and he took to Twitter in a hilariously viral thread to hyper analyze her sitting position and prove her position impossible – pointing fingers at the artist for a possible editing job.
Jesse McLaren, from New York, attempted to recreate Ariana’s cover art in a now-viral tweet that has earned over 85,000 retweets, and more than 270,000 likes since first being posted – and has also spawned hundreds of copycat attempts.
Impossible! Television producer Jesse McLaren took to Twitter to vent about Ariana Grande’s perplexing sitting position on her 2014 album’s cover art, after failing to replicate it
Foiled! One Twitter critique explained that he couldn’t manage to sit like Ariana on the stool because he didn’t have the whole look mastered for proper balance
Rocket science! His viral picture then launched a Twitter debate over the potential Photoshop job of her album art versus her balancing skills
But while the video producer tested out Ariana’s body positioning himself, with heels and hair intact, several of his followers decided to test out her stool pose for themselves and the results are in – her sitting position is no hoax.
Jesse began his Twitter tirade with side by side photos of Ariana’s album art next to his feeble attempt to balance on a wooden stool facing a mirror in his bedroom.
‘I’ve done the research and there’s no way her a**is sitting on that stool,’ he tweeted.
In his image he can barely fold one of his legs under his body, a stark contrast from Ariana’s poised position with both of her legs folded towards her bum on a small round stool.
But the singer’s fan base, known as the Arianators, were quick to defend the pop star – and her incredibly popular cover art.
‘You don’t have the ponytail, that’s what balances everything out,’ one user keenly noted.
Eureka! One fan claimed that she would be able to sit in the album art with ease if she had a warped stool like this that secretly extended in the back
Magical act: One user claimed her precarious balancing act was a gravity-defying gimmick
Believe it or not! One fan brought out outtake shots of album cover art shoot and reveals that she balances easily on the stool all on her own
‘Well you weren’t wearing the heels,’ another observant user Rufus pointed out.
But Jesse was quick to clap back at the haters and posted a selfie of his disgruntled side-pony that wasn’t quite up to to par with Ariana’s expectations and captioned his flick ‘nice try’.
‘You’re only seeing one photo of an album,’ he replied to the heels retort.
His struggle launched a thread of wild conspiracy theories over Ariana’s precarious balance on the tiny seat.
One user posted an image of a warped stool that secretly stretched at the back to reveal a potential solution to Ariana’s seat riddle, alluding that she wasn’t balancing at all, rather she was sitting comfortably with the extra back room.
‘Some sort of anti-gravity going on in this picture. Finding it’s source could chance mankind,’ another user deduced on the balancing act.
But one fan had proof that this was no spooking job, just a tiny Ariana on a small seat.
See it and weep! One Twitter user shows Jesse the deed is actually incredibly simple and posted an image of himself in her exact same position, complete with closed-eyed side profile
One less problem! Another user set an elaborate backdrop for his image and even put a towel in his hair to mimic Ariana’s iconic long ponytail
She’s a fan! This hard-core fan clad in an Ariana T-shirt and cap (with memorabilia in the background) nailed the pose spot on with identical hand position and facials.
‘Believe it or not she actually did, here are the outtakes from the shoot,’ one user Jimmy wrote.
And the images prove him right, and display her legs sprawled over each side of a stool, revealing there’s no editing job at work.
And while Jesse was busy contorting his body to fit the stool, his fans were reenacting her album cover for themselves, and they shared their successful attempts with pride.
One user Kenny took a photo in a bedroom mirror balanced with both legs folded under his body and even matched Ariana’s closed-eyed side profile and hand position with her chin tucked into her palm. He even matched her black ensemble and donned a black durag to use as a ponytail.
‘I don’t know man I tested it out,’ he captioned his photo revealing the job is indeed doable.
Another user did the same and echoed the black and white feel of the album art, and included a towel in hair to mimic her long flawless ponytail.
Secrets! Ariana’s fan base came to her defense and revealed her stool balance is a secret
Mean girls! One fan added that’s why the star’s hair is so notoriously voluminous, for the sheer number of secrets it holds stealthily underneath
Obsessed! To some her poised perch was evidence of Ariana’s unearthly abilities
Stumped! As for Jesse, he resolved to simply be impressed by the response of his silly tweet
One girl also tried it out for herself and captioned her success story, ‘No not Photoshopped, my mate didn’t Photoshop.’
And she was a devoted fan, donning head to toe Ariana Grande fan gear and even had a piece of the artist’s memorabilia balanced on her TV stand.
Despite the surprising amount of evidence, Jesse couldn’t admit wrong. Instead he was overwhelmed by the flood of images that reenacted the album.
‘My god, what have I started?’ he tweeted in response.
And to the few stragglers claiming that the Dangerous Woman crooner did indeed Photoshop herself, her fans whipped a series of sharp responses.
‘That’s a secret she’ll never tell xoxo,’ one user responded.
‘That’s why her hair is so big, it’s full of secrets (and extensions),’ another fan added.
‘She’s floating because she’s a god,’ one die-hard fan Cesar claimed.