After the hour ticked by and the photographers had been dismissed, Grande eventually appeared wearing a short navy and gold sequinned skirt and black top, looking immaculate.
The singer made sure to greet everyone in the room. The video cameraman even remarked that she shook his hand and said hello, which not every "star" does.
But she made her presence felt before she started the interview: asking to see the camera's shot, and only after she had adjusted the eyeline of the camera to her exact specifications, was she finally ready to answer questions.
The pop star however, allowed for some playfulness in her responses.
When asked if she had any plans to work with Iggy Azalea again, her collaborator on global hit Problem, she replied: "I just put out this album, slow down a little ... I'm just kidding."
Throughout the interview, Grande looked over to her entourage who were listening in, in the room.
The young star has been in the spotlight since she was 14 - as an actress in two Nickelodeon TV shows and with her music career.
That's a long time dealing with public perception and, undoubtedly, attention on social media. But Grande said she works hard to protect herself from negative comments.
"I've made it so I don't really have to deal with it. I've sort of created a very safe happy little bubble that I live in where I don't really hear about those things, or look at them, or read them or see them for that matter," she said.
And it seems Grande attempts to stay in this bubble.
"I've tried to make a very definite separation between my real life and, then, that other stuff. So I don't really let that into my bubble, for lack of a better analogy," she said, flashing a nervous smile at her entourage.
"I feel like that's the safest route."
Grande recently performed on the MTV Video Music Awards, collaborating with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj on the song Bang Bang.
All the focus was on Minaj who spent the time on stage clutching her dress to her body having experienced a reported "wardrobe malfunction".
Grande claims to have liked this supposedly off-the-cuff moment for the rapper.
"That's a true star. I mean you just go 'OK, I'm naked, let's go.' She killed her verse, she carried on and she went home and celebrated," she said.
But Grande, fully dressed in a Sydney hotel room, is clearly not willing to take her own advice.
- AAP
