Ariana Grande says acting has helped her heal her ‘relationship to music’

By Lauren Del Fabbro, PA Entertainment Reporter

Pop star Ariana Grande has said acting has helped her heal her “relationship to music and touring”.

The 32-year old, known for her number one songs Problem, Thank U Next, and 7 Rings, portrays Glinda in the two-part film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Wicked alongside Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey.

After landing the acclaimed role, which has since earned her an Oscar nomination, Grande continued to produce music and released her fifth number one UK album, Eternal Sunshine, which she will tour later next year.

Speaking about the tour, Grande said in an interview with Hollywood star Nicole Kidman for Interview Magazine: “I feel really grateful and excited about it in a way that feels so different to me.

“I’ve just been healing my relationship to music and touring over the past couple of years.

“I spent a lot of time redoing my system when it comes to making music. With Eternal Sunshine, that felt like a very different experience for me.

“I think the time away from it helped me reclaim certain pieces of it and put certain feelings that maybe belonged to my relationship to fame, or the things that come with being an artist, in a box somewhere else, and say, ‘OK, I don’t have to let go of this thing that I love. I can just put those things over here, and not lose sight of my gifts’.”

Grande reprised the role of Glinda in the film sequel, Wicked: For Good, which follows the first film, released in November 2024, and sees Elphaba (Erivo) demonised by those in Oz and transformed into the Wicked Witch Of The West, as she is known in L Frank Baum’s novel about the fantastical world.

Alongside playing Glinda, Grande also stars in the Meet the Fockers sequel, Focker In-Law, alongside Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller.

She said: “I’ve just been taking baby steps towards healing my relationship to music and touring, and I think my time with Glinda and with acting really helped me build the strength to be able to do that. But I can’t express how grateful I am.

“I think it just held some traumas for me before, and I feel those dissipating, and that is such an extraordinarily beautiful thing.”

Grande rose to fame after starring in the hit Nickelodeon series, Victorious and its spin-off Sam and Cat with her music career taking off in 2013 following the release of her debut album, Yours Truly.

She has won two Grammy awards and has had seven UK number one singles.

She said: “There was a tricky adjustment period in the very beginning, when my pop career took off the way that it did.

“And I hope this doesn’t sound ungrateful, but it’s just a big adjustment when your life changes in that very drastic way.”

The Eternal Sunshine tour will begin in June and take the pop star to venues mostly in North America including Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago and Montreal in Canada before wrapping up with five shows at London’s O2 arena in August.

Grande released a deluxe version of the album along with a short film titled Brighter Days Ahead in March 2025.