Ariana Grande Praises Late Ex Mac Miller's 'Beautiful' Career: 'Nothing Mattered More to Him Than Music'

Ariana Grande will always miss Mac Miller, but she reminds fans that his life and legacy live on through his music.

The singer, 26, spoke about her late ex-boyfriend while chatting with Beats 1's Zane Lowe during a recent virtual conversation for Apple Music. Miller, whom Grande dated from 2016-18, died of an accidental overdose in September 2018 at the age of 26.

"I think that nothing mattered more to him than music, ever. And he was the kind of person who woke up and rolled into the studio, tumbled out of bed, into the studio next door," Grande told Lowe. "Nothing was more important. Talk about losing track of time and forgetting to eat, [having to] remind yourself to take care of yourself and be a person. He was a person who gave literally every single second of his thought and time and life to his music."

The "Stuck with U" singer also praised Miller for his dedication to his craft.

"I think that's so evident in what he's left us with and just how many incredible and different bodies of work, everything from Blue Slide Park, K.I.D.S., to all the way through Divine Feminine, to Swimming, to Circles, to everything in between," she said.

Circles was the rapper's final project, which his family posthumously released in January.

"It's just such a beautiful gift, I think, that he kind of touched the world with. I think the thing he'd want most is for us to just appreciate it and not forget about it," Grande concluded.

The pop star previously spoke about the grief she felt after Miller's death, telling Vogue in July 2019 that it was "all-consuming."

"By no means was what we had perfect, but, like, f—," Grande said. "He was the best person ever, and he didn’t deserve the demons he had. I was the glue for such a long time, and I found myself becoming… less and less sticky. The pieces just started to float away."

Meanwhile, these days, Grande is helping give back to frontline workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic. She and Justin Bieber released their duet "Stuck with U" this month to support the First Responders Children's Foundation.

"We just wanted to make something fun that also helps and kind of makes people feel less alone or just be hopefully somewhat uplifting," Grande told Lowe of the single. "I think it's also a really literally isolating time for people mentally, too. We wanted to put music out because music is the thing that makes people feel good. It's the thing that speaks most to people's spirits and we just wanted to lift them. So we thought it would be better to do it this way, working with the First Responders Children's Fund. [It] made it feel much better and hopefully, it's making people feel good."

Grande and Bieber also put together a prom playlist for their fans with artists including Tinashe, SZA, Whitney Houston and more.