On a brand new episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, Ariana Grande, now also an Oscar-nominated actress, sat down with host Scott Feinberg to reflect on how she broke into showbiz as a kid, how music has helped her through tough times, Wicked, and more.
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Inspired by her parents' passion and work ethic growing up, Ariana, who believes herself to “sit right in between” her mother, a CEO and engineer and her father, “an artist in every sense,” was raised to “believe from a young age that I could do anything that I dreamt of if I worked hard, and was kind and patient.”
Coming from a “very musical” and “very loud” family, as a kid Ariana loved watching her older brother Frankie participate in “all the middle school show and high school shows.”
“I was so inspired by him, he was just my idol,” Ariana added, “I’m still so inspired by him, and yeah, I just remember wanting to be on stage.”
Spoiler alert — It happened. Ariana, who fell in love with singing, shared she started auditioning for local community theater in South Florida, “and well I got the bug, and couldn’t get enough.” A sentiment that remains true to this day.
Playing Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz at the Little Palm Theatre in Boca Raton, Florida, what is was about the Wizard of Oz universe that she loved, even back then, Ariana expressed, “I loved it from the first time I saw it, I was in love with Judy Garland and Billie Burke and all of the characters, and the music. I just remember being so transfixed by Judy’s ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’… studying the way in which she held her arms when she sang, and her vibrato… and it just transported me to another dimension.”
That being said, Ariana’s musical interests also went beyond musical theater, “I loved Pop and R&B, I loved Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, and Barbara Streisand, and Madonna, and Imogen Heap, and The Divas, and also a little bit of Alternative…” But at that time in her life, Musical Theater reigned supreme.
By 2008, Grande made her Broadway debut, when she she was cast in the musical 13. After concluding the run in 2009, she moved on to Los Angeles and went on to star in two Nickelodeon series, Victorious and Sam & Cat.
However, since the 2013 release of her debut LP Yours Truly, (aside from starring as Penny in Hairspray LIVE! in 2016) the trajectory of Ariana’s career went the way of music, with a successful run of six albums over a seven-year span, and touring in between. Ariana went on to delve into each of her studio albums, discussing each project’s inspirations, top hits, producing partners, and more.
Discussing the particular period of Ari’s musical career, where it seemed music was just flowing out, (the Sweetener / Thank U, Next era), Scott pointed out how Ariana has made music that has helped a lot of people through tough times, and asked Ariana if the music she was making at that time, had the same affect for her. Acknowledging, “because at that time you were dealing with things that people shouldn’t have to deal with,” referring to the 2017 terrorist attack outside of a concert that she had just completed in Manchester, England, which claimed the lives of 22 attendees; and the premature loss of a loved one and collaborator, Mac Miller, in 2018.
“Yes,” Ariana said, voice quivering, “definitely, I think I need it, I think I needed to be doing that. I think I was doing so much therapy… I was dealing with PTSD and all different kinds of grief and depression, and anxiety. I was of course treating it very seriously, but having music be a part of that remedy was absolutely contributing to saving my life… They were dark times and the music brought so much levity, and so did the experience."
“It poured out with urgency and it was made with urgency and it was a means of survival," Ariana went on to note, adding that while her label “understood that they were also very hesitant to stop Sweetener dead in its tracks and move on to another album.” But for Ari it wasn’t about the formula of what is usually done. It was something that she needed to do, explaining that “it felt really healing and freeing, and such a beautiful moment of connection.”
After discussing the remainder of her discography, Ariana and Scott talked all things Wicked, with Ari sharing about why she yearned for years to play Glinda, preparing for the role, staying true to the character, working with director Jon M. Chu, Cynthia Erivo, and more. Ariana also opened up about how her fame has helped her understand the pros and cons of being "Popular," plus much more. To catch it all, listen to the entire episode above.
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