Ariana Grande generated some viral attention recently when she was heard switching between two different speaking voices. Now, she has addressed the situation in depth.
On a recent episode of the Shut Up Evan podcast (as ET notes), Grande explained, “I did just spend a long time playing a character every single day. [I trained] my voice to do different things for a long time before leaving for London and before any of this. The voice is in the body, it’s an instrument and muscle memory is a real thing.”
Grande was referring to her role as Glinda for the upcoming Wicked movies.
She also addressed a perceived double standard, saying, “I mean, you see male actors, sure people make jokes here and there as well about everybody who experiences something like this, but it’s always after the fact that they’re like, ‘Oh wow, how dedicated to his craft! What an amazing transformation! He’s a brilliant performer!’ But then it’s like, God forbid I sneeze like Glinda or something. […] It’s just that I am crazy. […] It’s the weirdest thing.”
Grande later added, “[It’s] a full-time commitment and it’s a lifestyle. It’s not something you can f*ck around with.”
This comes after Grande admitted she does change her voice intentionally and explained why: In a comment on a TikTok video, Grande explained, “habit (speaking like this for two years) and also vocal health [tea emoji] i intentionally change my vocal placement (high / low) often depending on how much singing i’m doing [crying emoji] i’ve always done this BYE.”