- Ariana Grande is up for the Best Supporting Actress award at this year’s Oscars
- And ahead of the ceremony, the star was interviewed by fellow musician, Billie Eilish
- Eilish is been a long-time fan of Grande
Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish are two of the biggest names in pop.
But this week, they collaborated for a very different purpose – so that Eilish could interview Grande about her role as Glinda in Wicked.
While it may seem like a happy accident that the Q&A – which was held for Academy and guild members at the Directors Guild of America’s theater – was moderated by two-time Oscar winner Eilish, she was actually personally requested to host the evening by Grande.
“My team was like, ‘Who would be a cool person to do this? Who’s your dream person?’” Grande, 31, said at the outset. “I was like, ‘Billie, [but] she’s not gonna say yes.’ She’s too busy. She’s too fabulous. It’s too much. But she said ‘Yes,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, s***. Now I’m so nervous!’”
The feeling of adoration was certainly mutual, as Eilish, 23, also revealed her love for Grande – who is nominated for the Best Supporting Actress award at this year’s Oscars.
“I love this girl so much and I love this movie so much and I love you,” she told her. “And I still use the YouTube channel that… has been my personal channel since I was about 11. I was just in the car telling my mom that you can find old interviews of you from like 2014 with Billie Eilish comments like, ‘I’m Team Ari.’
“I didn’t realize that they were still up, but there’s many things where I commented like, ‘God, I just love Ariana so much.’ And I used to call you ‘Ari’ to my brother [Finneas], and he’d be like, ‘Don’t call her Ari, you don’t know her!’”
Ariana Grande talks ‘intense’ Wicked audition process
Beginning the conversation, Grande spoke about her insistence on not changing the original score to give Glinda’s lead song, Popular, a modern twist.
“I do feel in a way like the nerdy Oz historian that worked on the movie – I felt like a protective nerd, like the gatekeeping fan girl in the room,” she explained. “How different would life be today if Popular had trap drums in it?
“It’s just, there’s a time and place, and it’s not with Glinda, because she claps on one and the three. And that’s OK. But we have to be in character, and she doesn’t have that kind of rhythm.”
Eilish then asked about the audition process, and the pair discussed the fact that Grande was initially being considered for both Glinda and Elphaba – a role which eventually went to Cynthia Erivo.
“But, like, I was in all pink. It was obvious!” she laughed. “No one was hiding anything. I just think that they were very thorough, so they had me do all of those multiple times.
“And then I had my callback, which had scenes, and we did dialogue and more Glinda songs — just for Glinda at that point.”
And while you would assume that the process became easier as she got closer to bagging the part, Grande revealed that the level of intensity was constant all the was through.
“My final chemistry test was three hours, and I was a basket case by the end. And I remember I was like, ‘I’ve left everything else in this room. You know what, I’m gonna stick my lashes on the mirror.’ And I just left them because they were poking up, because I’ve been crying so much,” she admitted.
“It was long and thorough – as it should have been, because these roles have to be earned. And we worked really hard and it was the most gratifying work ever. And, yeah, it’s like, the right thing won’t pass you by, you know?”
Ariana Grande reveals how she prepared her voice for Wicked role
Grande also spoke about the ways in which she prepared to use her voice for the live vocal takes in the movie.
“I started training my voice three months before my first audition, just because I wanted to have the muscles in my voice get used to singing in a very different way,” Grande went on. “I’ve always had a high voice, but it’s very different than the register that I used to sing pop music, which is what I was mainly doing.
“And just like any other muscles in your body, your vocal cords just get used to what they’re trained slowly and surely and taught to do. And when I’m singing pop, I’m usually using my mix and my belt and/or whistles, with a little bit of falsetto in between.”
She continued, “But Glinda lives in that falsetto. So it’s just kind of spending a lot more time there and then training your vowels and your consonants and your vibrato to act differently.
“And that’s such a pivotal piece of the puzzle when it comes to Glinda — that coloratura, authentic operatic soprano style of singing. So it was very important to have it be healthy and warm, and it took a lot of work.”
