Ariana Grande thinks her speaking voice changed for the better in “Wicked.”
The Grammy winner told Vanity Fair that she thinks criticisms of how she adjusted her “physicality” to play Glinda in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical are sexist. Grande was mocked on social media after clip of her airier speaking voice on the “Podcrushed” podcast went viral; she posted on TikTok at the time, “I intentionally change my vocal placement (high/low) often depending on how much singing i’m doing. I’ve always done this BYE.”
“There is a part of the world that isn’t familiar with what it takes to transform your voice, whether it’s singing or taking on a different dialect for a role or doing a character voice for something,” Grande said. “When it’s a male actor that does it, it’s acclaimed.”
She continued, “There are definitely jokes that are made as well, but it’s always after being led with praise, ‘Oh, wow, he was so lost in the role.’ And that’s just a part of the job, really. Tale as old as time being a woman in this industry. You are treated differently, and you are under a microscope in a way that some people aren’t.”
As for her vocal transformation for “Wicked,” Grande said that she is “really proud” of how much she worked for the role, especially since “tabloids that have been trying to destroy me since I was 19 years old.”
“Part of why I did want to engage [on TikTok] is because I am really proud of my hard work and of the fact that I did give 100 percent of myself, including my physicality, to this role,” Grande said. “I am proud of that, so I wanted to protect it.”
Grande, who made her debut as a child star on Nickelodeon with “Victorious” and the spinoff “Sam & Cat,” reflected on how her approach to fan criticism has changed over the years.
“The back-and-forth throughout the course of my career has been really hard to navigate mentally,” Grande said. “I was this approachable, funny redhead on Nickelodeon and everyone liked me. And then I had one too many hit records, and everyone decided that I was an evil diva. And then other terrible things happened, and all of a sudden I was this hero and this victim. Honestly, it’s taken me a lot of hard work to be able to last this long and to heal certain parts of my relationship to fame and to what I do because of these tabloids that have been trying to destroy me since I was 19 years old. But you know what? I’m 31 years old and I’m not a perfect person, but I am definitely deeply good, and I’m proud of who I’m becoming. I will never let disreputable evil tabloids ruin my life or my perception of what is real and good.”
