Ariana Grande wanted the Wicked film adaptation to stay as true as possible to the original Broadway musical.
In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Wicked composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz revealed that while recording the movie’s version of Popular, the 7 Rings hitmaker flat-out refused an attempt to add some ‘Ariana Flair’ in the Jon M. Chu-directed 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, hip-hop it up a little bit,” Schwartz shared.
However, the pop icon opposed the idea, with Grande, 31, firmly stating, “Absolutely not, don’t do it. I want to be Glinda, not Ariana Grande playing Glinda.”
Although Schwartz failed to add a hip-hop twist to Popular, he did manage to introduce a new element to the song in collaboration with Grande.
“I had this idea for a new vocal ending,” the composer continued. “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,” Schwartz finally convinced the Bang Bang singer.
Based on the Broadway musical and the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel, Wicked was released in theaters on November 22.