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Is Ariana Grande performing at the Fortnite Rift Tour?

Could Ariana Grande be the mysterious "record-breaking superstar" that Fortnite is teasing?

Donovan Erskine

July 29, 2021 10:05 AM

Ariana Grande: Positions Music Video

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If you’re familiar with Fortnite, you know that the game has evolved far beyond a battle royale, with major marketing crossovers and full-capacity concerts. The game is now gearing up for a big musical concert with the Rift Tour. Not much is known about the event other than the fact that it’s going down in early August and will feature “a record-breaking superstar.” Ahead of any official announcements, we have reason to believe that said star may be Ariana Grande.

Is Ariana Grande performing at the Fortnite Rift Tour?

When Epic Games announced Fortnite Rift Tour, the company was careful as to not reveal any details surrounding what artist would be performing, but there’s good reason to believe it will be Grande. First up, and most convincing, longtime Fortnite leakers, such as HYPEX have claimed to have uncovered files within Fortnite that directly use Ariana Grande’s name. While it’s usually safe to take these sorts of leaks with a grain of salt, folks like HYPEX have quite a long history of accurately leaking Fortnite content.

There may also be some very minor hints that clue us into the fact that Ariana will be coming to Fortnite. Look at the stretched letter “O” in the official promo material for the Rift Tour. It’s a similar stylization to that used in the marketing for Positions, Grande’s latest studio album.  

Finally, you may recall the court case between Apple and Epic Games that went down earlier this year. It was during that case that several Fortnite collaborations, either canceled or delayed, were revealed. This included names such as Naruto, The Rock, and you guessed it - Ariana Grande. We very recently saw LeBron James come to Fortnite, who was also featured on the list alongside Grande.

Fortnite Rift Tour is set to take place from August 6-8, and we think there’s a decent chance that Ariana Grande will be the headliner. It’s a move that we specifically called for when determining all of the real-world celebrities we’d like to see come to Fortnite.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_