Pop Superstar Ariana Grande On A Tech Wave with Mi.Mu

By Sonya Davidson

Pop sensation Ariana Grande has recently launched into a high energy 'Honeymoon Avenue' tour making 25 stops in major cities across Canada and U.S.. Not only can this young starlet sing, dance and act (she's been in musicals and on Nickelodeon television) but she's bringing tech along for the ride. 

During her tour, she's incorporating the innovative Mi.Mu Gloves into her act. With movement, the gloves change the mood of her voice - what synthesizers would do but she can controls what happens with her voice. 

The Mi.Mu gloves were created in a collaboration with British singer-songwriter Imogen Heap along (it was a start up that was formed in 2013). The musical gloves takes the wearable tech to the stage and gives a performer a whole new creative energy in a fashionable way. Combining fabrics and motion tracking electronic, algorithms, sensors, they offers performers unique control on stage like fading away or echoing the voice.  

The Mi.Mu gloves weren't the only tech incorporated into the show. Fans could purchase 'cat ears' (Ariana's signature look) and join the fanbase via app to have their tech toys activated during the show. Colours and pulse of lights were all controlled by the tech team to enhance the stadium's visual presentation of the concert. 

Judging by the screaming packed crowd at the Toronto show last night - mostly teen girls - I couldn't help by smile at their reactions. "Like, wow! That's so cool!I've never seen anything like that!" said the girls dancing next to me and I can't help but to think that more pop culture exposure to tech like this will raise the interest of girls thinking more about STEM careers in the future....because "it's very cool!"

Thank you to TD Canada and #TDMusic for inviting us along on such a fun night! 

Here's a YouTube clip that shows Ariana Grande experimenting with the Mi.Mu Gloves