 Yours Truly is the debut studio album by American singer Ariana Grande . It was released on August 30 , 2013 , by Republic Records . Incorporating R & B , Yours Truly was influenced by Whitney Houston , Amy Winehouse , Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey , amongst other of Grande 's 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 with Big Sean , Mika and Mac Miller , in addition to Mary J. Blige , who is featured on the song " Lovin ' It " ( which sampled her song " Real Love " ) , and The Wanted 's Nathan Sykes , who features on the song " Almost is Never Enough " which was also included on the The Mortal Instruments : City of Bones soundtrack . Occasionally , the album dips into other genres such as adult contemporary music and dance music . 
