Ariana Grande appeared on the “Zach Sang Show” on Monday night to discuss her new record, “Eternal Sunshine,” out March 8,and her role as Glinda in the upcoming “Wicked” film.
Though the details of the singer and actor’s current ventures were slim, Grande did discuss multiple trending topics for both projects. After being asked what it was like to be working with producer Max Martin again, Grande shared her love for their longtime partnership and revealed they had recorded a few sessions at Jungle City Studios in New York before she left to film “Wicked.”
Those songs — including a demo called “Fantasize” — ended up on TikTok without her consent and went viral throughout much of last year.
“Thank you so much. I’ll see you in jail. Literally,” Grande said jokingly before adding that the positive reaction to the pop tracks (a clip of “Fantasize” has soundtracked over 130,000 videos on the video platform) led her to include reworked versions of them on her new record.
“It was like a parody of this girl group vibe. But [the fans] love it… It’s so corny, but it’s okay. I took the note and I kind of gave them Ariana’s version of that on the album,” she said. “They’re completely different now. So although you’ve heard them — because you stole them — they’re very different now.”
On the album’s thematic material, Grande shared that some songs address real frustrations while others are more part of a concept. She alluded to some of the songs addressing the “inexplicable hellish feeling [of] watching people misunderstand the people you love and you,” concerning the stories written about her relationships in the tabloids.
Elsewhere, Grande said she didn’t intend to make music until after she finished promoting “Wicked,” but “as soon as the strike began, I came to New York and it all just kind of started pouring out.” It was during this time that Grande recalls her relationship with music as “healing,” thanks in part to the separation, and also through her character in “Wicked.”
“When I was writing it was with no intention for the world to hear it,” she added, “I wrote them when I was very emotional, some of them, and then some of them are more bops.”
To land the role, Grande said she had to “deconstruct” her popstar identity and had help from vocal teachers to transform her voice “to prove to them that I could handle taking on another person.” She added, “I had to completely erase popstar Ari — the person they know so well — because it’s harder to believe someone as someone else because they’re so branded as one thing. I had to really go all the way to strip that down.”
The first part of Jon M. Chu’s movie musical “Wicked” is set to hit theaters on Nov. 27. “Part Two” is slated for Nov. 26, 2025. The cast also includes Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible; Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero Tigelaar; Ethan Slater as Boq; Bowen Yang as Pfannee; and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Oz.
The second part of Sang’s interview, a track-by-track review of “Eternal Sunshine,” will premiere on Amazon Music via Twitch on March 8.
