Yours Truly is the debut studio album by American singer and actress Ariana Grande. It was released on September 3, 2013, by Republic Records. Incorporating R&B, Yours Truly was influenced by Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey, amongst Grande's other greatest idols. Grande describes the album's first half as a "throwback" to the R&B music of the 1990s, and the second half being "very unique and very special that I've sort of written" which is completely original. On the album, Grande co-wrote six out of the twelve tracks. Contribution by Harmony Samuels, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Patrick "J. Que" Smith and Victorious co-star Leon Thomas III, as well as others, handling the production on the album. Grande recorded a number of songs on this album over a three-year period. The collaborations are with Big Sean, Mika and Mac Miller, in addition to The Wanted's Nathan Sykes, who features on the song "Almost is Never Enough" which was also included on The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones soundtrack. Occasionally, the album dips into other genres such as adult contemporary music and dance music.
Yours Truly was promoted with live renditions of the album's songs during The Listening Sessions Tour. The album was preceded by the release of the lead single, "The Way", featuring American rapper Mac Miller, on March 25, 2013. It became a top-ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number nine. The second single, "Baby I", was released on July 22, 2013 and peaked just outside the top-twenty of the Billboard Hot 100 at number twenty-one. The third and final single "Right There", featuring Big Sean, was released on August 6, 2013 and peaked at number eighty-four on the Billboard Hot 100.
Yours Truly debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 selling 138,000 copies in its opening week. Internationally, the album reached the top-ten position in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
