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Perched high above Beverly Hills there lies a quintessential pop star’s mansion.It’s noticeably under-furnished, in that way peculiar to the homes of youngsuperstars, and as quiet as a padded cell. Up by the gates a security teamlingers, while in the kitchen a 24-year-old woman wearing a pair of fluffypink socks, her hair in a 3ft-long ponytail, is making me a cup of tea. It is a hotday in California, yet as Ariana Grande fusses with the kettle and tea bags, barelyany sunshine touches the marble floors of her 6,000sq ft hideaway. This fact doesnot bother Instagram’s third most followed person (119 million people and counting).It has become apparent in the 10 minutes since she cheerfully welcomed me intoher slightly airless pocket of super-fame – a space that, for the past year at least,Ariana sometimes hasn’t felt like leaving – that her approach to interior design isquite bonkers.It was in the hallway that things first started to get weird. “Enjoying the fake fallthat I keep up all year round?” she teased, ponytail swishing. One thing fans adoreabout the Ariana phenomenon, which the wider media often fail to grasp, is that forall her devotion to pristine eyeliner and iPhone pouting, she is actually a self-confessedweirdo. With this in the mind, the Italian-American singer has made the – how to putthis delicately? – esoteric lifestyle choice to live in a perpetual Halloween. Deep intothe new spring, her elaborate metal bannisters remain smothered with fake spider websand hung with scores of plastic pumpkins. “Fall is my favourite,” she explains evenly.“It was ending, and I was like, ‘Oh, man, I wish it could still be fall.’ Then I was like,‘Oh, wait, I’m an adult and this is my house... it can!’” She glances around her poppalace dreamily. “I was thinking of putting up more. What do you think?”The experience of interviewing Grande is akin to a teenage sleepover; her chatis sugared with girlish statements such as, “I’m serving heather-grey realness,”which she delivers with hand-on-hip pose, referring to today’s outfit. Meanwhileher small talk is often surreal. “I love clouds,” she ponders. “I’m actually sad youcame on such a sunny day,” she says pulling out her phone – which buzzes constantly- so she can show me an album of her garden on a dull morning. Her eyes blink sweetly as she fiddles with her hair. She’s nervous. When peopletalk about a “year that changed everything”, I’m not sure anyone could imagine thepast 12 months in the life of Ariana Grande. In the spring of 2017, the former childstar appeared to want for nothing. Her recording career – built on an extraordinary >SHE WAS THE SINGERWHO HAD IT ALL:INTERNATIONAL FAME,INDUSTRY RESPECTAND MORE THAN AHUNDRED MILLIONFOLLOWERS ONLINE.BUT WHEN ARIANAGRANDE’S CONCERT ATMANCHESTER ARENABECAME THE SETTING FORA NATIONAL TRAGEDY,NOTHING COULD REMAINTHE SAME. GILESHATTERSLEY MEETS HER.PHOTOGRAPHS BYCRAIG MCDEAN.STYLING BY KATE PHELAN###### ARIANA###### GRANDE:###### THE YEAR###### THAT###### CHANGED###### EVERYTHING