Ariana Grande Shot Down an Alternate Version of 'Popular'

The Wicked press tour might have been annoying as hell, but after I saw the film last weekend, I immediately thought, Wow, this was so good, they actually could have been so much more annoying. Ariana Grande's version of "Popular" was especially spectacular. The moment where she growls "RIGHT" that's since gone viral? If it was 2006, I would have left the theater and immediately paid $2.99 to make it my ringtone.

Not only was Grande's performance Oscar-worthy but her insistence on keeping the song as close to the original as possible also deserves an award. The show's composer and lyricist, Stephen Schwartz, recently spoke to the Los Angeles Times about one of Wicked's most ~popular~ numbers and, honestly, I think if they went through with his initial idea, there would have been riots.

“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,” Schwartz said of pitching "Popular" when production first began. “Ariana said, ‘Absolutely not, don’t do it. I want to be Glinda, not Ariana Grande playing Glinda.'” Thank God. Thank Oz?

Director Jon M. Chu previously told The Hollywood Reporter that Grande “didn’t win the role the first time," and he was initially hesitant she could even pull it off, but they kept bringing her back in. At one of the callbacks, she came in completely Glinda-fied. “Her voice was different. The way she walked was different. I have never seen anyone change like that," he said. "She earned this thing like no other.”

Grande might not have the strongest sense of judgment in every area of her life...but I'm so grateful she knew that "Popular" had to stay true to the original 2003 Broadway version. Can you imagine what the theater kids of the world would have done if Schwartz had been allowed to "refresh the rhythm"? We all would have had to defy gravity to escape the burning remains of this country.

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