See One Thing Ariana Refused to Do For 'Wicked'

Ariana Grande landed her dream role when she was cast as Glinda in the big-screen adaptation of Wicked, and she took her commitment to the part very seriously.

Director Jon M. Chu revealed that the 31-year-old pop star was an “aficionado” on the Broadway musical and treated elements of the script as a “bible.”

In a new interview, composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz shared that she was so dedicated to respecting the source material that she refused to make a big change to one of its songs.

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Stephen told the Los Angeles Times that he proposed adding a bit of edge to Glinda’s song “Popular.”

“In the spirit of being open to new things for the movie, my music team and I thought, let’s refresh the rhythm. Let’s, maybe, I don’t know, hip-hop it up a little bit,” he explained, via Deadline. “Ariana said, ‘Absolutely not, don’t do it. I want to be Glinda, not Ariana Grande playing Glinda.’”

He added that they did try “a new vocal ending” for the song after some urging.

“Ariana was a little hesitant about it, but I told her that if I had thought of it for the original show, this is how it would have been. Once she was reassured that this new bit of music was coming out of character, she was on board,” he explained.

See what Ariana had to say about backlash to her being cast as Glinda.