Long before she got the part of Glinda, it’s clear that Ariana Grande has been a true Wicked devotee. And so, when one of the most soaring voices of her pop generation was cast as the Good Witch in Jon M. Chu’s cinematic adaptation, it was a true ruby-slipper moment. The wish fulfilment is elevated even more so in Wicked: For Good, adapting the second half of the stage musical, since Grande truly gets to put her own stamp on Glinda: receiving a brand new song from original composer Stephen Schwartz, providing even more insight into the character’s complex world.
That number is called ‘Girl In The Bubble’, a moment of reflection for Glinda that propels her forward. “We get to see [Glinda] decide, ‘I’m going to change the course of Oz. I’m going to become deeply, truly good and make a safe space for people,’” Grande tells Empire in our world-exclusive Wicked: For Good issue. “She earns her title for real, and we get to see that self-discovery. I’m so grateful for that song, because she deserves it as a character.”
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It’s safe to say things won’t be easy for Glinda – or for Elphaba, who gets her own new song too – in For Good. “It’s traumatic event after traumatic event after traumatic event,” as Grande puts it, “and they’re all shaping her and propelling her into her actual goodness, that has quietly been there all along, but she wasn’t ready for it yet.” Get ready for Glinda 2.0. “Even in the first film you get to see those layers slowly peeling away, but in this film, it’s rapid and urgent,” Grande promises. “It goes even deeper than imaginable.” Buckle – or should that be bubble? – up.