With Wicked, Ariana Grande-Butera Begins a New Era | W Magazine

It is very bubblescent. You know the name I'm going to give it. It is very Galinda. But she has to have her own name. We'll call her Belle. Because she has a nice little bell inside. This looks like the deep sea creatures. Do you ever fall into a wormhole on TikTok and you get into the part where it's like 1,000 creatures you've never seen before and you're like, what planet do I live on? Have you ever been there? That part of the internet where you're like, whoa, time to leave. Have you ever seen those? I'm serious. It's like this guy. It looks just like this, but it has red bloody eyes and teeth and four big lights coming out of its head. And then balls here. And a see-through head. And you're like, I thought this was Earth. What have you? My name is Ariana Grande Viterra. I am using my full name for the movie. I have done it before in children's theater in South Florida and growing up in school and on my birth certificate. It was a decision that I made because this whole experience truly felt like a homecoming to little Ariana. And I wanted to capture it. This feels just kind of like the most important and full circle thing I've ever done. I was 10 years old when I first saw Wicked. I did immediately love it to death. I think I know my life in two chapters. Before seeing Wicked and after seeing Wicked. I started singing as early as I can remember. I mean, my first human memory is singing with my mom in the car, whether it was Barbra Streisand or NSYNC or Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I have always loved singing. I don't think I remember a time when it wasn't a part of my life. I definitely remember when my mom pointed out to me that my voice was different, but I don't remember a time when I didn't know that I loved and needed to sing. Music was always at the forefront of my life. I did grow up on movie musicals. Wizard of Oz was one of my favorites. I remember I used to sit in front of the TV with my little gingham dress and study Judy Garland's body movements, how she held herself and Toto. I think that my first impersonation was Judy Garland. I always had sort of like a fascination with sounds and tones and different accents. I remember watching it with not only the gingham dress, but I paired it strangely with a scream mask. I don't know why, but it was my creative vision for it. I said, I need to put a spin on this, and I wore it with like a Jason mask or a scream mask. You sang through the scream mask. Yeah, it was muffled, but you could make out that it was there. I did stand up in my living room for my grandparents a lot. Then I would do different voices and different characters, and one of the first two were Judy Garland and Jennifer Coolidge because I grew up loving Best in Show and all the Christopher Guest movies and Legally Blonde and, of course, The Wizard of Oz. I think my favorite Halloween costume that I've done would probably be my best friend Liz Gillies and I take Halloween pretty seriously. And one year we did Best in Show. I was Eugene Levy. I had two left feet. And I put gum in my Invisalign, and I just jumped it up because I wanted my teeth to look like a little bit different, not like my teeth, and it was crazy. And I had eyebrows, and it was the whole thing. Liz and I had a casting call for dogs. We hired a perfect standard poodle to play Rhapsody in White, and then we hired a beautiful terrier to play Winky. I got lost in the sauce, and you can't tell it's me at all. I look like Eugene. My first red carpet outfit was a little green mini dress, and I think it was to the premiere of Fantastic Mr. Fox. And I had bright red hair because I was on Victorious at the time, and I had a little cat eye because I really loved that, even back then. And I remember having so much fun, and I remember being really proud that I was invited to anything at all, but also like, this is so weird. Why do we do this? Why is this a thing? There are plenty of movies that made me cry. The Waterboy makes me cry. When they're being mean to Bobby Boucher, I ******* cry. I don't like it. I love Bobby Boucher. And I ******* cry when they're mean to him. There's one moment in particular that I really don't like, and he goes, And then he goes, And I literally am like in bed, I'm like this, and I literally lose it. I lose it. He's so sweet. Do you think you're more like a cat or a dog? Interesting. I think I have both in me. I think I'm dog forward, cat rising. I think my sun is in dog and my rising is in cat, just because I think cats are so boundaried, and I think I have a little bit of boundaries too now, you know? But I think I have the openness and emotional landscape of a dog, but with the boundaries of a cat. I do get starstruck. Imogen Heap made me incredibly starstruck. She's my idol. She's my number one favorite musician, songwriter, producer. And the first time I met her, I thought I was being catfished because she had invited me over. I thought I was being trapped, and I brought my mom and stuff. We were going to be murdered together. But no, it was really her, and it was amazing. It was just such a dream come true. I love her. She's brilliant in every way. I think my favorite birthday was in Oz. I loved being there with my cast and crew, and everyone made me the sweetest video. I just cried all day long, and John Chu got me a beautiful bubble cake, and I just felt so celebrated and happy. I have never in my life felt the way I did when I found out that I got the role of Glinda. It was just like the biggest wave of gratitude, and oh my goodness, everything's going to be okay forever now. But before you read it, tell us your sign. I'm a Cancer. Cancers are watery and emotional and open-hearted and creative, and we like to be home and cozy and warm. Yes, we have a shell, but mine's a soft shell. I feel like I can see through it, and there's a lot of openness that leads the way, but it's there, and you earn your way in and you get to stay.