Ariana Grande Finally Addressed That Viral Voice Change
Ariana Grande's voice changing wasn't your imagination. The singer finally explained why she sounds different.
Published June 20 2024, 11:10 a.m. ET
When a star devotes themselves entirely to an acting role, there’s always a chance that the character stays with them. Just look at Austin Butler, who couldn’t shake his Elvis Presley voice after filming the Elvis movie. Years later, that signature voice is still rockin’ and rollin’ with the actor.
Ariana Grande is another example. For the past few years, she’s been working on her role as Glinda the Good Witch in the screen adaptation of Broadway’s Wicked.
Soon, fans started to notice that the singer’s voice sounded different. After staying mum on the controversial subject for months, the “Yes, And?” singer finally addressed the change.
Why did Ariana Grande’s voice change? Read on for her explanation.
Ariana Grande addressed the criticism about her voice change.
Fans were shocked when they heard the 30-year-old singer changing the octaves of her voice during a viral video. She was on Penn Badley’s podcast, Podcrushed, when her voice went from her normal register to sounding more like her Glinda character.
This led fans to wonder which one is her real voice. “This is so scary… like is she OK,” one fan commented. “How did that just happen??” another asked with crying emoji.
A third joked about the swift change, “Me switching to my customer service voice at work.”
Many users believed her voice change was due to her role as Glinda in Wicked. In the trailers that were released, her voice was unrecognizable. “GLINDA LET HER GO,” this comment read. “Oh GLINDA FREE MY GIRL,” another wrote.
After the clip went viral, Ariana Grande set the record straight about her speaking voice.
“Habit (speaking like this for two years) and also vocal health :),” she began with a cup of tea emoji. “I intentionally change my vocal placement (high / low) often depending on how much singing I’m doing,” she added with a crying emoji. She went on to say that she’s “always” done this, followed bye “BYE” in capital letters.
Ariana Grande’s voice isn't the only change she’s had to make for the role of Glinda in Wicked.
During an appearance on The Zach Sang Show, she said that she’s been working daily with an acting and voice coach.
"Everything about me, I had to deconstruct to prove to them I could handle taking on this other person," Ariana explained. "I had to completely erase popstar Ari, the person they know so well, because it's even harder to believe someone as someone else when you're so branded as one thing."
She added, "I had to go all the way to strip that down, come into my callback with no makeup, my hair down, I looked like I was 11 years old."