Ariana Grande likes to spend time in a "normalcy bubble" with her best friends

Despite travelling the world and having a cell phone packed with the numbers of celebrities, Ariana says her best friends are the girls she grew up with in Boca Raton in Florida and she loves to hang out with them and escape the pressures of fame.

The 'Side to Side' hitmaker is "grateful" she has so many wonderful pals who treat her the same way as they always have.

In an interview with Australian breakfast TV show, she said: "My family and my friends are the most important thing in the world to me. My friends I've had since middle school, and since elementary school. I feel like there's a work aspect to my life and some of it is kind of like weird and some of it is kind of like whoa. But I still feel like the person that I was growing up in Boca. That's because I've kept a really healthy environment around me, and I'm very grateful for that. My best friends now are my best friends from Pine Crest (school) Boca.

"It has been a really wild ride and I don't know if it wasn't for those people if I would still be able to maintain that normalcy and that healthy bubble. I'm super grateful for that."

Although Ariana has three albums to her name and multiple TV credits under her belt she admits she still loves musical theatre which is how her career began and she'd be keen to return to the stage at some point in the future.

Ariana - who is dating rapper Mac Miller - said: "I made my Broadway debut when I was 14 and that was really fun, I'm a theatre girl at heart. I love that, like, I crave that."