This weekend, tens of millions will watch and interact with an Ariana Grande avatar for a concert in video game Fortnite – the latest in a growing, lucrative market
A shimmering Ariana Grande emerges from the starry night sky as she begins to run through her biggest pop hits. Dressed in a glistening sequinned two-piece and rocking a towering ponytail with hints of neon pink, the superstar is both levitating and incandescent.
Literally. This isn’t Grande’s latest festival outing, nor is the pop star even physically present. Rather, Grande is seen here in an entirely digital form as part of The Rift Tour, an interactive collaboration with the massively popular online video game Fortnite. Rolling out globally this weekend only, it’s a unique partnership the brand is dubbing a “musical journey” with the singer, and marks the latest chapter of an emerging relationship between two disparate cultural behemoths: music and video games.