What you need to know
Wicked forever changed Ariana Grande and inspired her to keep making albums.
In a new interview with Evan Ross Katz on the Shut Up Evan podcast on Friday, Oct. 24, Grande, 32, said of filming Wicked, “It felt like a reunion and an inspiration and a real spark that I might have missed.”
It could be something as simple as what I was missing,” she continued. And I think I learned a lot. And I really wanted to do that too. But I felt like I couldn’t help it. It was an inspired moment and I had to write the album and I had to do it. ”
Grande went on to reveal that the “Wicked” production team warned her about the reshoot schedule in January. However, she was not deterred by the demands of filmmaking.
“I said, ‘Okay, that’s fine. I’ll either finish it by then or I’ll finish it later,'” Grande said of the grueling recording and filming schedule.
Eternal Sunshine found Grande working with notable producers Max Martin and Ilya, among others. The album was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2025 Grammy Awards.
Grande starred in the film version of Wicked as Galinda “Glinda” Upland. When she mentioned pausing filming during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Katz chimed in, asking about returning to the set after such a long hiatus and whether she needed to “find” herself in a role again.
“No, it was there. I couldn’t find anything. It was so weird that I thought, ‘Oh, does this feel weird?’ And as soon as we got there, it was like it was over. She was right there, it was amazing, thank God,” Grande said of returning to Glinda’s shoes.
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“Wicked” will be released in November 2024, and the second part of the film adaptation, “Wicked: For Good”, will be released in theaters on November 21st.
