Ariana Grande Turned Down Hip-Hop Version Of ‘Popular’ While Making ‘Wicked’: “Absolutely Not”
deadline.comWhen it came to her take on Glinda, Ariana Grande didn’t want to stray too far from the original. Wicked composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz recently revealed that while recording the movie musical’s track ‘Popular’, the actress shot down an attempt to “hip-hop it up a little bit” on the Jon M.
Chu-helmed feature adaptation. “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 told the Los Angeles Times. Ariana said, ‘Absolutely not, don’t do it.
I want to be Glinda, not Ariana Grande playing Glinda.'” Schwartz, who also wrote the Tony-nominated music for the 2003 Broadway musical, did manage to update one part of the song with Grande. “I had this idea for a new vocal ending,” added Schwartz. “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.
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