Ariana Grande Shares Her Hollywood Firsts: Auditioning for 'Wicked', Being Oscar Nominated & More

Didn't ever think that I would be seen as a singer. I didn't, I hoped, you know, I hoped that people would let me do both or that I would be able to do both with my life. And at that time, it was just such an unfathomable thought. So it was really cool to hear like, oh my God, you're playing my song on the radio. Maybe I'll get to do both. Hi, I'm Ariana Grande, and we are here at my Hollywood Reporter cover shoot. And here are some of my Hollywood firsts. The first movie that made me want to make movies, I would say The Wizard of Oz is one of them because I just remember studying Judy Garland and being so in love with her performance. And then I fell totally in love with Jim Carrey. So I think about like The Truman Show and The Mask. He's just like this masterful comedian. He's one of one, but everything has so much depth and humanness beneath the surface. It's like hilarious, but also heartbreaking at the same time. And then I think about Best in Show. Those are my three. I think might've been for Annie at the Little Palm Family Theater. I was eight years old and I was very sick. I had bronchitis, but I really wanted to go. And I booked the role of Annie. And I remember I was so young. They had like a rule at the family theater that like parents had to drop everyone off and then pick them up after rehearsals. But my mom did not want to leave me at rehearsals. And so she actually auditioned as well and got a role in Annie. And she played the guy who sells the apples and one of Daddy Warbucks' housekeepers. And so she was able to stay at rehearsals with me because she auditioned to be in the show. My first red carpet was for Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I was not in at all. I had nothing to do with it, but they invited me. And I was on Nickelodeon at the time and I had my red hair and I had my little green mini dress. And I remember I felt really cute. I associate that specific shade of red with that character so much. So I love it. I love it for that. I started writing songs when I was really young, but the first one I wrote and recorded and was able to like actually have a copy of was called Let It Rain. And I was really young when I wrote it. I think it was 11 or 12 when I wrote it and then I recorded it the next year. I don't know, man. Let it rain. Just what it will be, it will be. Those were the lyrics. What was I thinking? I was so young and so wise. I thought I was like Natasha Bedingfield slash Mary J. Blige. And I was 12. The first person that truly left me starstruck was Imogen Heap. I grew up worshiping her. She's the reason why I produce. She's the reason why I literally downloaded all the music softwares on my computer when I was 12 to start learning how to do things myself, how to comp vocals, my looping machine. Like everything I know about music production was because I idolized her. I thought I was being catfished the first time that I went to go meet her. And at some point I was like, hey mom, I think it's a prank. And I think it's, you know, we watch a lot of true crime. I think we know what's coming and this is the end. And then it wasn't. And she answered and she was like, hello. And she answered the door. And she was like, hello, come on in. These are the Mimu gloves. And it was perfectly wonderful. My first time hearing myself on the radio, I was actually driving to Nick on Sunset to film Sam and Cat. And I heard the way. And I almost crashed my car. It was really exciting and totally terrifying because I almost drove off the road. It was really an insane moment for me because A, I was getting ready to go to set for my real job at the time. And, you know, I didn't ever think that I would be seen as a singer. I didn't, I hoped, you know, I hoped that people would let me do both or that I would be able to do both with my life. And at that time, it was just such an unfathomable thought. So it was really cool to hear like, oh my God, you're playing my song on the radio. Maybe I'll get to do both. My first Wicked audition was August 13th, 2021. I like remember I had my little pink thermos. Just remember leaving it all in the room. I sang No One Mourns the Wicked and I sang Popular. I sang both of them twice. And then I strangely sang, even though it was very clear that I was going in for Linda, I also sang The Wizard of Nine, Defying Gravity twice. So I was there for quite a while and I did a lot of singing. And even though I wasn't all pink, they had me sing both vocal tracks, which was really fun. And yeah, I just remember leaving buzzing. I sobbed. I, it's, I absolutely sobbed. I had my face in my hands. I was just absolutely sobbing. It was really emotional. It's emotional to even talk about. It's very unfathomable because the greatest gift of my life was being able to do this work. Every single day playing Galinda was more than a dream and more than enough. It's just the thing that I'm most grateful for in my life so far. So to have the work be celebrated and acknowledged in this way is not something you even think about when you're making it. You know, you don't even think about it at all. And then afterwards you don't think about it either. I didn't know where I'd be right now. I thought I would be, I don't know. It's just, it's a once in a lifetime thing. And I don't think if I ever, I don't think I even let myself dream that far, to be honest. So yeah, it's incredibly moving and extraordinary and insane. Oh, and then my therapist called and then my gynecologist called. And I was like, oh my God, thank you. Can we celebrate over my next breast exam? Like, is everything okay? First of all, is everything good? And she was like, congratulations. And I was like, wow. That's it, right? There's a tonal shift when you go from being like on a kid's show as a character that people love and find approachable and silly and whatever to pop stardom. There's a very different thing that happens. And I can't explain what's behind it or why, whatever. People sort of, it just becomes a little bit different. But I just remember feeling all of a sudden like, oh my goodness, artists maybe are not like meant to deal, like the same people who are destined to make art are the opposite kind of people who are meant to deal with what comes with it sometimes. Because sometimes it can just be really a bit of a whirlwind and the music you're making, whatever you're doing can come secondary to what they try to turn you into. So I think probably when I was 19 or something or 20, I remember kind of having to stand up for myself quite often back then, or at least stand up for my art too, to just be like, hey, I'm here to sing. What are these rumors about? Why is this happening? I'm just here to sing. And that was something I was experiencing at such a young age that it was so weird for me to adjust to. And I'm 31 and I'm still, it's still really hard when that feeling arises. I'm still learning and I'm still growing, but I feel like I'm really proud of kind of how I've been able to navigate it and heal through it. I've been holding space since I was born, I would say. I think I've always been an empath and a cancer and I have been consistently holding space since my first breath. I want to take this moment to clarify something. There were many articles written about like what it means to hold space, but it wasn't the holding space that was perplexing because I think holding space is something that, you know, I've actually been saying that phrase for quite a long time. It was the with. Thank you for letting me clear that up. Probably the same thing that my mom said to me, which was just like, you've got this. You know, you can do absolutely anything. Be kind, work hard and tune out the noise.