Watch Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo Meticulously Rehearse ‘Popular,’ Years Before It Came to Life in ‘Wicked’
Practice makes perfect, even for the pros. In honor of Wicked: For Good coming soon to theaters, Ariana Grande has shared a clip of one of her early rehearsals with Cynthia Erivo on the set of the films, giving fans a peek at how they brought fan-favorite song “Popular” to life on screen.
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The video posted to Instagram on Monday (Oct. 6) opens with the two leading ladies sitting side by side on a prop bed. “Locked timing, take 1,” Grande — wearing a pink sweater to match her character, Glinda — tells the camera.
The pop star then proceeds to sing a few bars of “Popular,” her version of which appears in the first Wicked film and soundtrack. As she performs, she practices wrapping a pink sash around her costar before humorously pushing her costar down onto the bed when Erivo tries to get up.
“That’s the bit,” Grande says after snapping out of Glinda mode, with director Jon M. Chu exclaiming from behind the camera, “That is the timing, locked in!”
“tickets on sale in two days @wickedmovie for good,” she captioned the clip before revealing how long ago she and Erivo practiced the sequence. “(rehearsal, september 2022).”
The video shows just how meticulous the Wicked team was when choreographing the musical numbers for the films, with Grande and Erivo performing those same movements as rehearsed in the final cut of “Popular” for the first movie. This November, the saga will come to an end when For Good hits theaters almost exactly a year after Wicked premiered in 2024.
The R.E.M. Beauty founder has been open in the past about how seriously she took preparations for Wicked, from extensive voice lessons to dance rehearsals. “I started training every single day with my vocal coach for two-and-a-half, three months before my first audition, and my acting coach,” she said last year. “I just wanted to be prepared to use any tool needed whatever was asked, I wanted to be able to drop in and do it and really become [Glinda].”
Watch Grande practice “Popular” with Erivo below.
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