For years now, Ariana Grande, the former child star, has had Top 40 hits, sold-out tours, more social media followers than almost anyone and, of course, that voice. Why, then, does it feel like she’s only really arrived in the mainstream consciousness this summer?

The obvious answer is “Sweetener,” the singer’s fourth album, which sits atop the Billboard chart this week with the best first-week sales of Ms. Grande’s career. But in the lead-up to her blockbuster release, which centers on pop and R&B production from Pharrell Williams and Max Martin, Ms. Grande, 25, has united the disparate threads of her talent and celebrity — from tabloid relationship travails to the tragic bombing at her Manchester concert last year — into a tidy package of pop professionalism.