It’s pretty exciting for Florida pop music fans when a singer stops in the Sunshine State on their most recent tour. This coming week is going to be absolutely amazing because not one, not two, but three of today’s top pop stars will be crisscrossing the state. Ariana Grande’s “Honeymoon” tour stops at Amalie Arena in Tampa on July 16 at 7:30 p.m. and at the BB&T Center in Sunrise on July 18 at 7:30 p.m. Nicki Minaj’s “Pinkprint” tour stops in Miami at Bayfront Park on July 20 at 7 p.m. On the same night and in the same city, Sam Smith will be singing to a packed house at the AmericanAirlines Arena, beginning at 8 p.m. The next night, he will sing at Amalie Arena in Tampa at 8 p.m.
Prince Royce will open for Ariana Grande in Tampa and Sunrise. Meek Mill, Tinashe and Dej Loaf will open for Nicki Minaj at Bayfront Park in Miami. Gavin James will open for Sam Smith in Tampa. There will be no opening act for Sam Smith in Miami.
ABOUT ARIANA GRANDE
Ariana Grande is a South Florida native. Born in Boca Raton, she performed in the Fort 
Lauderdale Children’s Theater and attended Pine Crest School and North Broward Preparatory School. At the age of 16, she landed the role of Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon sitcom Victorious, which was successful and lasted three years. Shortly after joining Victorious, she started recording her debut album, which would take her three years to complete. She released the album, called Yours Truly, in August 2013. She became only the fifteenth female artist whose debut album entered the charts at #1 during its very first week. The single “The Way,” featuring Mac Miller, went platinum and peaked at #9 on the pop charts.
Grande released her second album, My Everything, in August 2014. It yielded the highly successful singles “Problem” (feat. Iggy Azalea, peaking at #2), “Break Free” (feat. Zedd, #4), “Love Me Harder” (feat. The Weeknd, #7) and “One Last Time” (#13). Over 600,000 copies of the album have been sold in the U.S. alone. Her third album, which will be called Moonlight, is currently in production.
ABOUT NICKI MINAJ
Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, Nicki Minaj was raised in Queens, New York from the age 
of five. Initially wanting to break into the scene as an actress, she turned her attention to rapping, and released three mixtapes in New York City between 2007 and 2009. Young Money Entertainment noticed her and signed her to a contract. Her debut offering, Pink Friday, topped the albums charts in 2010, and the single “Super Bass” peaked at #3 on the pop charts. Afterwards, The New York Times called her “the most influential female rapper of all time.” Her second album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, was released in 2012, and also topped the charts. She became the first female artist to have seven singles charting on the pop charts at the same time.
Her most recent album, The Pinkprint, was released last year. The second single release from this album, “Anaconda,” became her biggest hit in her career thus far, peaking at #2 on the pop charts. Nicki Minaj has earned the distinction of having the most Billboard Hot 100 chart entries of any female rapper in history.
ABOUT SAM SMITH
Sam Smith became famous in the United Kingdom in 2012 when he was featured on the single 
“Latch” by Disclosure. He made his debut in America in January 2014 with an appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s late night show. That winter, “Stay With Me” was released stateside, and peaked at #2 on the pop charts. His debut album, In the Lonely Hour, was released in May 2014, and quickly became a sensation. It was the second highest-selling album in the United States for 2014, behind Taylor Swift’s 1989.
In February 2015, Smith won four Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. “I’m Not the Only One,” the fourth release from his first album, peaked at #5 in the United States, and “Lay Me Down” would follow, peaking at #8. Openly gay, Smith credited a past relationship with a man as inspiration while writing songs on his debut album. At the Grammys, he said in part when accepting his awards, “Thank you so much for breaking my heart, because you got me four Grammys!”
TICKETS
Tickets for the Ariana Grande concert dates start at $15.75 (Sunrise) and $16.75 (Tampa). For the Nicki Minaj concert at Bayfront Park in Miami, tickets start at $35. Tickets for the Sam Smith concert dates start at $32 (Miami) and $32.50 (Tampa). To buy tickets, visit the artists’ tour pages online: arianagrande.com/tour, mypinkfriday.com/events and samsmithworld.com/live.
Follow your faves on social media! Ariana Grande is on Facebook at facebook.com/arianagrande and on Twitter at @arianagrande. Nicki Minaj is on Facebook at facebook.com/nickiminaj and Twitter at @nickiminaj. Sam Smith is on Facebook at facebook.com/samsmithworld and Twitter at @samsmithworld.
