Well, we still have the ponytail, so that’s not ideal (she must not have gotten the Full Updo memo that went to Nicki Minaj and Priyanka Chopra). But I actually enjoy this on her.

Ariana Grande is a tiny, tiny little tiny person, but she’s not allowing herself to get lost in that fudge cream puff of a dress. Also, the Time 100 has to be a big deal to her. It’s a proper grown-up event full of proper grown-up people, unlike pretty much every music industry award show. And she is treating it a bit like her Oscars. Which I like. Go big or go home, and I’m glad she picked the former. Instead of tottering out in a strapless short cocktail frock and 5-inch platform stilettos, and inducing a yawn, she opted for the kind of gown that seizes this moment and feeds it carbs and Champagne and a sandwich and just bloats the HELL out of it.

It looks cozy. Like Little Miss Muffet wanted a portable tuffet that expands and retracts based on whether she’s sitting or standing. I had a travel cup like that once, for when I brushed my teeth. Sigh. I miss that cup. My sister Paint Pen’d my name onto it, with a flower. I could not have predicted that Ariana Grande would propel me down a memory lane that involved old toiletries. She IS full of surprises.

[Photos: Getty]