Ariana Grande: 'eternal sunshine', Wicked & Tour | Apple Music

Where is the magic in life for you in art in human connection in the people I love in laughter and in creating something you are proud of? There are so many things today that I will say I will definitely focus on art. There is so much magic. in art it's so good to see you in person I know look at this place this is like I don't know this is some kind of magical dream skating overlooking New York did you ever think you'd spend so much time in New York when you were a kid I love it, I mean being so close to the theater when I used to visit my mom when I was little and my best friend Aaron, we saw as many shows as we could every weekend we went to. dinner at a show or a matinee and then dinner at a show and it was just the best.

I mean, the energy of New York is so different, you know, it's also great memories to spend time with your parents at an age where you get to enjoy it before your identity takes over and yours becomes yours, it's something as well as theirs, yeah, what's one of your favorite memories about the time you spent with your mom before you decided to go out on your own and end up here? Your support even from people like that? When I was young she would take me from bokeh to auditioning for Broadway shows and you know I believed in it so she supported me and never pressured me, she was always very supportive and it's really happening right now.

It must be especially sweet for you to have done so much work and completed this, you know, ERA with Wicked to be able to trace it back to that CU moment. I'm sure she's very proud of everything you've accomplished and

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is a big part of that, but for her to know that those trips to New York and those trips to Broadway and those Maes take you back to that place at once. strange way, it's nice, it's strange, but also not, it feels so. full circle It feels like home it feels like pieces of the puzzle that have always been there finding their way back and just a nice balance of everything it's beautiful I hope you like it I'm excited yeah I can't wait to see it.

She made me excited to know that you would be involved in doing it and it kind of takes us back to this era for you as an artist that we know or knew. I feel like this album is a completely new step forward creatively for you, not only in terms of writing and producing the

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and the performance is amazing, but I understand it like I understand the concept, thank you and when I heard the album for the first time I did that where I started to attribute all these words, songs and ideas to the person and then I thought: wait a minute, there is space and freedom to write within a concept to take it even further, it is that part of what motivated you to want do it in a more conceptual way.

Yeah, I think so, I mean it's very protective and observant and loving of you to say that I think there's so much freedom within art in general because you can really draw from anywhere, you can draw from your truth, you can draw from a concept. from which you can extract. a movie of a story you are telling of a story about a relationship that a friend told you. You know art really is, it can come from anywhere. Yeah, finding a home in Eternal Sunshine was a lovely disguise, I think, for this. project because when we listen to songs now I think you know we jump around in timelines and we start attributing all these things and then they don't become songs anymore, they become lines and headlines and lyrics and words and they stop being, yeah, and they stop being songs and it has almost become a bit treacherous, I think that to tell the truth music because it stops being music so quickly, I think it depends on where you look, although I really think that yes, that is there and that type of noise always has I've been there in certain ways and in different ways and I think now with social media they are definitely more present or more available.

I also think there are a lot more people who can just listen to the music and take what they need from it. what they need to hear what they need to heal you know what resonates with them I think there are more people who can do that than the other or maybe that's me being Eternal Sunshine ignorance is BL no you're not being idealistic at all access is a lot older, but you feel it wonderfully there as long as we take what we need from it because it is no longer mine, it is really for you, so it is okay if I send it to a friend and he has his own experience with it or they take a new meaning that I didn't even consider when writing it, you know, its beauty is not really mine anymore, so that's when it hit me and I was listening to it and I thought, well, you know?

It starts with a question and ends with an answer yes, right, the question is how do I know if I'm in the right relationship, if I found the right person, and it ends with the most timeless advice anyone with any knowledge could give. I give you don't forget the little things, when did you realize that the album had that beginning, that question, but you also had the answer at the end, honestly? I didn't realize it until I found the voice note. He knew ordinary things. It was the end of the album. I thought this is the last song, but I'm wondering how I can put that button on it and make it land emotionally the way I feel and how I can answer the question.

I always record my Nona when I'm with her because you never know what she's going to say and she's the funniest person in the world and I had this 30 minute voice note of her and her friend Shirley talking about her and it was right in the middle . of that and I said, oh my God, that's the answer, what did you hear in your laughter afterwards? Because your laugh is the last thing you hear on the record, yeah, and I wondered what that laugh means to you, listening to it now, well, my own laugh. It means I don't know, yeah, I don't know, I mean, I think it's a little surprising, our loved ones, our friends and our family have the ability to instantly calm us down and simplify things that are so complicated. and heavy sometimes like they just had that instant ability, sometimes how much it made them step away from the day-to-day or project-to-project routine of releasing a record and I know they didn't necessarily do it to positions the way they you had done it in the past, but you still felt like you were moving regularly and focused on Wicked.

Did it help you break it? Break the spell a little bit in terms of how you wanted to come back and start a record, yeah, it definitely did. I mean, I tried to put the music as far away from my brain as possible while I was working on Wicked because I think to fully give myself over to Glenda I needed to really, really, really. Put that in a big box, everything from the way I sing to the way I talk, the way everything had to be different for a long time in order to be fully present in it, also really allowed me to come back.

Yeah, I learned a lot about H. I don't know. He had a very interesting relationship with music before I went to Wicked. I think the time I was away was really healing and I love it. I love it, it's so interesting because I came back and loved every minute of making this album, the videos, the rehearsals, the release, the photos, Sho, like you know every part of it more than ever in my life. I've been able to be much more present and enjoy and savor this time in a way that I don't think I could before.

It must have felt almost like you were working in secret, which I don't think you are. It must be hard to feel like that when your last arm was a huge success, you came off a

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and everyone was still plugged into your frequency, what were those days like when you were working alone? Because I know you obviously worked with Max Mar with Which is great, but I'm also very interested in that time you spent just figuring out what the songs meant to you and how you were going to construct them and produce them. Well, it was very vulnerable, I mean, you know.

I had this amazing trip in September where it was just me and Max and we started these Little Seedling ideas and we had a collection of Beats that we liked and we wanted to tap into EXP and he left me like a big folder that I would go into. and trying things out and FaceTime when I'm done and saying, what do you think is good? I don't know and you know it was a very vulnerable but very fun experience. I don't know, it was really special and then of course. Max came back and we had a lot of fun and Ilia also joined and Shintaro also sent Beats from afar, that's how it started.

I think the first two things I wrote were End of the World and Eternal Sunshine, so that's both. Sharos as well, and you knew the concept from that moment when Eternal Sunshine came out because ultimately that was what was going to allow the idea to come together. I don't actually remember when I realized that's what was happening, but yeah, the end of the world is a really interesting way to start the record and I'm like, when when does the world not come to an end? I mean, at least that's what it feels like for everyone, I'm sure it is.

It's like we have a habit of taking a look at even the good things in our lives and looking past them to see what could go wrong. . You know, I catastrophize things just as much as anyone else, when it comes to life. Don't catastrophize, I try to stay present. I think a big part of our job as human beings is to not live in the past or the future, but to try to be here and focus on the present, but of course there is that fear. of what could happen I think anxiety is just the byproduct of being alive.

In fact, I don't think it's something that bothers you. I think it's something that you learn to live with or recognize that you have to learn to live, you have to learn what tools work. for you and how to befriend you how to shine a light on all your little monsters and see them and look at them and say okay, I see you how we can live together how we can survive together how we can overcome what we need to achieve and work on this together you know do you still meditate? I do it every day what's the trick what's the secret because there's no I mean really there's no struggle it's one of the only things I can do everything else but you're just judging your performance are you saying it's okay?

My mind is spinning. I'm not doing a good job. I'm serious. That's what most people tell me. It's as. Alright. I don't think so. I'm good at it. Well, doing it at all is good at that. I mean, you can't really judge yourself. It's a good place to do it. Just doing it is great, as David G would say. It's all part of the meditation, so if a phone rings, if a dog barks, yes, it was meant to happen, it's part of the meditation, how do you apply it to your creative energy, Like you do when you're in a creative space, sometimes the songs come from that? experience I guess that's my question H I don't think so I think I think taking care of your brain as much as possible is always productive I think it definitely helped me more with acting that I can see it being present when I do music, but I think it helps everything which is always discouraging when you've been rehearsing something for months and months and months and then you have that scene that one day you meet and it's like, oh, today is the day it has to be there, so you can't get in your own way and how do you judge yourself differently if you judge yourself from that position or at least approach it from a point of view as an attempt at self-awareness because with the music at the end of the It's a very personal expression from within, but on set I imagine that if you look back at a take or at the fast scenes, it must be difficult not to look at yourself differently, at least judge your performance differently and maybe be more difficult.

In that sense, I try not to do too much of that with acting or with Wicked in particular because I mean, I loved watching things because it was exciting to peek every once in a while and see whatever, but I just didn't do it. I don't want to be too aware or aware of, you know, I just wanted to live there in it and not be aware of what that looks like, yeah, totally, and you have to trust the director and trust the people on the set to go away. . what they need, yes, totally, I think it might be a little distracting.

Was there a song that when you were working on this album came without any delay or obstruction and just fell out of the magical space for you? Something really beautiful about this writing process was that if it took too long or if it became too mathematical or if it became too much, we'd drill into this pre-chorus to get it right, we'd bounce back or try a different idea or come back. and whatever and just doing melody passes until it just falls out, so I feel like everything fell into place like that with this album kind of organically and, um, because it was fast, right, you did it fast, it was fast, but it wasn't too fast, it was like 3 and a half months.

I don't know how people leave the studio. I mean, I can imagine it's such a rewarding place that executing something must be one of the hardest things. Like how they let him go, yeah, I thought that's where the emotion must come from. I saw some of the videos of you playing it for people and I could see how you were just trying to hold it together, but is that the case? I really am a cancer, that's all, it's all very emotional. Yes, I can imagine that was part of what was going on, will you tell me whatDid it cross your mind when you started showing it to people and the excitement took you by surprise?

I think I've been doing this for a long time with the same team since Republic Records and I love them all so much, you know how many times I've called Monty, Wendy, Joe and Avery and him, Roo and Donna to listen to a record, listen to a song , this has been my seventh time, it's just a long time to do this and I think this is the first time I've felt really present and able to enjoy it the way we were talking about before, so it was emotional, you know, It was something beautiful. I see these people that I love and that I've worked with and survived so much for so long and this is like the first time we're doing this, it feels like that to me and also what I've been able to give.

I do everything this way, even doing interviews and stuff. I don't really do that kind of thing, but I'm excited that that makes sense. I'm excited, I'm proud and I'm grateful and I feel like, oh. Gosh, what a gift to be able to do this art and for so long I think I was hiding from it, hiding from my success or what comes with it and it was really impacting my ability to be able to love what I do. for a long time, oh my gosh, I don't want to be drowned, but, but, but, um, but yeah, I was really resenting it, I think for a moment, and I don't feel that anymore, and I feel like I can let it go and enjoy it. and I feel very proud and grateful for that.

I'm sorry I like going there, but it feels very different. I think that's why I felt so excited even just touching them, because I was like wow, this feels so different this time, what was really hard for us as fans was seeing this thing that you were giving us as a gift, until your period, feel like it was the soundtrack to these difficult times and I wouldn't have done it. I wouldn't have blamed you if you hadn't made a record for a long time. I think between that, the unpredictability of what we were discussing and the playfulness of it all was something that when I started making music when I was young.

I didn't really expect that or sign up for it like I just loved music. I didn't know it had to be a game. I didn't know people were going to try to pit me against people I love. I did not do it. You know you were going to do very strange things and I think I was very young and processing all of that. I kind of married it to the music in my head for a while. I thought, oh well, I can't do that anymore. I was talking to someone else who made an album that's deeply rooted in um love lost uh very recently and I made the observation that even though the album goes through all these different experiences of losing someone that you care about, it actually still it was. a love album for me because you know this feels a lot like that, yes it is for me, it isn't for me, it doesn't just have to be an

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love story, mm, love is complicated, show both sides, it's kind of what I did my best to balance the music.

You know, this feeling can be true and this feeling can also be true simultaneously and I think that's something we can ignore sometimes. You know, you know what really helps you cope like a Saturn return? Memory. Mine, super good, yeah, I do it and um, it's a unique experience because it's almost a mathematically perfect equation, but it's unique to everyone else. It's like one of those planetary alignment things that should really put us all on some grid, but it doesn't. It's super individual and applies like magic to everyone's lives, so Ari, how was the return of your sat?

Oh my gosh, my Saturn return, how was it? um, it was pretty calm, nothing changed, no incident, seriously, no incident, nothing, yeah, I can. I don't think of anything that has changed my life, you don't have to go into details, but from a personal level, how did you grow up in all seriousness? I think I learned that I didn't really listen to myself a lot. in a lot of areas that I might have been in it's like my nervous system was screaming at me to make certain changes for a long time, but I think I was kind of a person that didn't listen, I don't know, I just did it.

I tried to listen to it more, it's an interesting time in your life because it applies to all aspects and I think we make a lot about relationships and a lot about yourself, but no, it's so much about your relationship with yourself. yeah, that's mostly what I mean, yeah, for me I was like, oh, I'm not listening to myself, I need to start listening to myself, why am I doing this? You know, it's not protective to ignore these feelings, it's actually counterproductive, it's actually more damaging to it's not Supernatural as a song, I love it, it's one of those moments that for me comes up and it's a comforting and immediate moment, but I love it. the feeling of Supernatural and the idea of ​​what it means, what has the most magic. life for you where is the magic in life for you in art in the human connection with the people I love in laughter and in creating something you are proud of?

There are so many things today that I will definitely say, I will focus on the art that is out there. There is so much magic in art. Do you remind yourself most times throughout the day to appreciate where you absolutely are? I believe the only possible way to survive is with gratitude, is to stay rooted in gratitude and be grateful every day for everything. It comes off very easily and it's very easy to get wrapped up in negativity or what you know, the challenges are here in the day, it's time to delve a little deeper into this type of concept because for me, at least because I love the movie and I love it.

I recognize. Now that there was a thread of the movie not just in a literal sense but just the feeling of the movie running through the record, what prompted you to link this album to the movie? If it's that literal, I think that's what the movie is like. so loved because a lot of people can relate to knowing something isn't right but loving it so much and wanting to stay and wanting to figure it out and that cycle that can happen in the movie. I think that's why the movie is so beloved. because a lot of people can relate to that and I think in a way I understood that these songs had little fragments of that theme.

Do you remember the first time you saw them? Was very young. I'm a huge. I'm a huge Jim Carrey fan. I don't know if you know this, but my first screen name was Jim Carrey fan 42, so I was definitely very young. He has always been one of my favorites. What has it been like to meet him? It is exciting. It's even better. I know sometimes you get nervous when meeting your people because you never know what they're going to be like and it's very scary. Could not be better. I love him so much more after meeting him and working with him on banter.

What is Maxm like? I just want to do it, he's the biggest mystery, the most successful pop producer, he just turned into an absolute kid, he's my favorite thing, he's not smart, no, he's the best person in the world, I think who he is is who. he's like a human being and the fact that his success and everything he's done hasn't inflated his ego or his humanity at all, like he's the coolest guy that ever lived, he's so kind, kind to every single person he meets. He knows and is affectionate. in the studio like him, how does he get the truth?

How does he get those performances out of that truth and yet make it feel like it's my life? It's very thoughtful when it comes to things like that because I usually go too far like I'll still be like this, I'll be too, you know, I like to write like no one's ever going to hear it and then sometimes I want to dilate back or change things or remake things and um, he has such an incredible ability to maintain that balance and know what people need to hear and what I need to say too, like if he stood up for me, he would say no, you deserve to say that, he knows that too, Like, hey, you can say that in a way that doesn't distract people from the song 100% or he'll be like that, he's more aligned with Ari, you know what I mean, that's him, he's amazing, but we passed an amazing and therapeutic time together.

We walked to work together every day, um, you did, yeah, we walked on the Highline, those were really fun long days too, yeah, and then we'd like to have a glass of wine and sit there and listen to what we did and laugh. It was simply the best. Can you disappear here? Can you walk down the Highline and disappear literally anywhere in New York? And that's what I liked so much about London, I got to do it every weekend and it's nice to be able to explore and wander around and it's New York, everyone lives in New York, everyone's used to seeing people in New York, I think in true story and what I love about that song is how funny it is and how it leans into the idea of ​​what is real and what isn't what you called a true story, but I'm actually not sure if it is. a fake story based on all the fake events exactly, sets up the guy's mind, obviously, it's like okay, I'll play the bad girl, now here's your Bad Girl Anthem, that's why they're in that order on the list of songs, the boy is mine.

I mean, the original is a classic, yeah, I love that song. I've always liked it. I wanted to reimagine that song in some way. Why on this album, what I mean, where were you when you came out with the idea of ​​wanting to add? that when I saw the reaction of my fans they fantasized because they love it so much, so this was an extension of that in a way, I think I thought this is a very bad idea, I think, but there is a large group of my followers. fans who really do it, love Bad Girl Anthem and I, this is kind of an elevated version of that, it's kind of pop's job to a certain extent to be provocative and be an escape in some ways, but yeah, thank you.

I'm glad you loved it, did you work on that on your own too or did you work on it? It was Max and I, that was our first trip, that was one of the first ideas we started, everything fell into place with that. However, the tempo changed, yeah, and we, and when once he did that, I was like, oh, this is a problem, I felt like the album was really a reality, when, when, when, when a song like that comes out , okay, now I have to find. There's a lot to think about because he can't be left alone, yeah, the first thing Max and I did together was We Don't Want to Break Up Again and the second thing we did together was The Boy Is Mine and once we had those We couldn't believe it happened so quick and we were like, oh we could be doing something you know when I hear your voice on the record, and obviously being a fan of yours as a performer was also a writer and a producer um and an artist in general is that listening to you sing often I can explore with you your range and finding where you can take it emotionally on this record I feel like you and I don't know if that's the case By the way, I'd love to hear your opinion, but the performance seems like you choose those moments very deliberately and a lot of times you just write as if you were in the foreground, thank you, yes, actually, that's super intentional.

I love it. being picky about how much I want to go there vocally, it's one of my favorite things to do is watch girls like they slide down and, but I'm very picky about the times I decide to go there, we can't be friends on that . song that's kind of like a classic, emotional Dance Floor moment where you dance to something and I can't tell if it's a final thing or if it's flirty and maybe that's the point of that song as to yes or no, it's like We couldn't be friends or it's like we can never be friends, how does that fit into the concept? about what fits into the concept. um I think in a different way for me than for most of my friends and most of my family and people who have heard it and everyone interprets it a little bit differently, which I love about that song because I think it's can apply to any type of relationship, especially when you watch the video.

You'll understand the importance of this, especially with it being the second single, as well as the video we made for We Can't Really Be Friends to Me. It's the album in a video. What do you value in friendship? What do you love most about your friends? Oh my gosh, just having that space in them no matter what's going on, I feel incredibly good because of the people I have in my life, I know they would never know it, you know what I mean, they are just the best, I love them. You are right about everything, they are brilliant, what about you for me?

What I love about my friends, honesty, mhm, oh yeah, confidence, holding the mirror, they're the best at it, but they've also helped me understand the things that scared me the most. about myself and accept them over time, I like to give myself a place of honesty where I can talk to them and then by verbalizing those fears, I'm not as afraid of them anymore and I think that leads me to my favorite song. The album that isn't perfect for you because I think it's a beautiful tribute to that experience. It's also one of my favorites. I think my three favorites are: We Can Be Friends and Perfect for You and Eternal Sunshine, but I think the most beautiful. about and perfect for you is that we all know those people that we feel the same way and that we are so lucky to have because they see everything, have room for everything and accommodate their imperfections too, like we are very lucky to have friends, family members, loved ones who are so tolerant and real with us, no matter what it is, it's such an important song in my opinion, because we live in a time where everything isboiling. depressed, but that song demands room for the nuance, humanity, and complexity we're so used to that we like to be stripped away these days.

Will you find the time and have the energy to want to

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this album? I miss doing shows that I actually do. If there is a chance to be among the evil ones or right after the evil ones, of course I will do my best to do so. I guess I just have to like my Rel Rel boat with the music. I have to redefine my relationship with shows because I think that's something that I also suffered a lot from because of my own trauma, my own lack of boundaries when I was younger. I think it allowed me to have a kind of anxious association with it, but I think that's where I was at. to be here now and I like it, I'm looking forward to it.

I'm excited to redefine my relationship with touring and do shows when time allows, but it's something that I'm like, yeah, I'd love to, but I don't know when I'll do it. I appreciate that this album to me is a great example of what happens when someone takes the concept of what's happening internally and goes beyond that and builds a world that's bigger than your own personal experience, that's what It's the concepts and, um, I think I've done an amazing job. I appreciate you doing this. Thank you.