Ariana Grande is sick of being written about like she's just someone's past or future girlfriend. The pop star wants to be perceived differently and asked about her music rather than her love life.

In an open letter posted to Twitter, Grande quotes American feminist Gloria Steinem and discusses her treatment at the hands of the media, the history of female activism in her family and her desire to be seen as an individual rather than just an extension of a man. Grande previously dated rapper Big Sean, but the two recently split.

"Being 'empowered" is not the same as being a 'bitch'," she said. "Having something to say is not the same as having a bad attitude. What I meant when I said what I said about not being Sean's ex is that I am tired of living in a world where women are mostly referred to as a man's past, present or future property/possession".

Grande believes that she's currently making the best music she's ever made and outlined her frustration that nobody really seems to want to talk about that. Female activism is in her blood – her aunt Judy Grant was a feminist journalist, Pulitzer Prize finalist and president of the National Press Club in 1990. The singer thinks Grant would have been pleased with her letter: "I think she would have been proud of me for speaking up about something that has been bothering me personally for so long."

She finishes her note with a Steinem quote encouraging women to stcik together: "Any woman who chooses to behave like a full human being should be warned that the armies of the status quo will treat her as something of a dirty joke...She will need her sisterhood".