Ariana Grande is feeling grateful as she walks her first Oscars red carpet as a nominee. The Grammy winner is up for best supporting actress for her performance as Glinda in “Wicked,” which heads into the Oscars with 10 nominations, including best picture.
“I am so excited to be here,” Grande said, “It’s not something I ever dreamed of in my wildest dreams. The gift of my life was playing Glinda. So this part… I didn’t let my mind go this far. You don’t expect this thing. Doing the work is the gift. This is just such a surreal acknowledgement and cherry on top. To be included with so many actors and actresses I love so much. This whole circuit has been an amazing dream.”
While Grande’s career has been dominated by the movies as of late, her fans are still eager for her to release the deluxe edition of her album “Eternal Sunshine.”
“The next step is the next step,” Grande teases about the deluxe album’s mysterious release. But what does that mean exactly? “It means it must come out.”
Grande remained tightlipped on a specific release date and hesitated to say it’ll arrive “soon” because “soon means 10 days or less. I’m not allowed to use that word in this moment. … Not today. You’re so naughty. Keep your eyes peeled.”
The singer has made it very clear that she has no immediate plans to go on tour again.
“I feel so grateful to the acting, and I think my fans know that music and being on stage will always be a part of my life, but I don’t see it coming anytime soon. I think the next few years, hopefully we’ll be exploring different forms of art, and I think acting is feeling like home right now,” the “Wicked” star and Oscar nominee told me in December. “I am appreciative for [my fans’] understanding. I’m so grateful for the ways in which we’ve grown together over this whole journey with ‘Wicked.’ But music will always be a part of my life.”
At about the same time, she told my Variety colleague Clayton Davis that a deluxe version of her latest album, “Eternal Sunshine” is “in the can.”
“It’s a very special project,” she said. “I’m out there so much right now. I want to let my children miss me for two seconds. I’m excited to surprise them with it at some point, but I’m still mulling over the timing in my head. It’s not the end of ‘Peaches’ just yet, but she’s going in the closet for a minute.”
