Being a woman existing I guess? I don't know. She's not wearing anything outrageous or doing anything crazy or located anywhere for the shoot that would cause alarm to any reasonable person.
I think this photo in particular got alot of backlash because people think she's exaggerating her features to look more Asian. Its not super noticeable, but I think people were sensitive to it because ariana grande has a history of role playing as ethnicities she is not a part of. For example her brown face era when she would often use a blaccent and tanned excessively.
The whole Spongebob thing isn't a great look. The whole directly insulting the ex-wife of Spongebob who left said ex-wife two months after she gave birth isn't good either. The fact that Spongebob looks like a bobo version of her gay and fantastic brother is just fucking gross.