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

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 creating something you’re proud of um there’s so much today I’ll say definitely I’ll focus it on the art there’s so much magic in [Music] 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 a this is some kind of magic dream skate overlooking New York did you ever think you’d spend as much time in New York when you were a kid I love I mean being so close to theater when I used to come visit with my mom when I was little and my best friend Aaron we would see as many shows as we could every weekend we would go go to dinner in a show or a matina and then dinner in a show and it was just the best I mean New York energy is so different you know they great memories as well going to spend time with your parents at an age where you get to kind of enjoy that before your identity takes over and your becomes yours it’s kind of 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 and ended up here does her support even from such a young age I would she would fly me in from bokeh to audition for Broadway shows and you know I believed in it so she supported me and she never pushed me she always was just kind of very supportive and it’s really happening right now I mean that must be extra specially sweet for you to have done so much work and completed this you know ERA with Wicked to be able to kind of trace it back to that moment CU I’m sure she’s super proud of of everything that you’ve achieved and the music is a big part of that but for her to know that those trips to New York and those those trips to Broadway and those Maes kind of LED you back to that place in a 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 again and just a nice balance of everything it’s it’s beautiful I hope you love it I’m excited yeah I can’t wait to see it I was excited to know you were taking part in doing it and it kind of leads us to this era for you as as the artist that we know or we knew I feel like this album is a whole new step forward creatively for you not just in terms of writing and producing the music and and the performance on it is incredible but I get it like I get the concept like I get it thank you and when I first listened to the album I I did that thing where I I started to attribute all of these words and songs and ideas to the person and then I was like wait a minute there’s space and freedom to write within a concept to push it even further is that kind of part of what motivated you to want to do it in a more conceptual way yeah I think so I mean that’s very protective and observant and caring of you to say I think there’s such a freedom within art in general because you really can pull from anywhere you can pull from your truth you can pull from a concept you can pull from a film from a story you’re telling from a story about a relationship that a friend told you from you know art is really it can come from anywhere yeah finding a home in Eternal Sunshine was a lovely a a lovely costume to wear I think for this project because when we hear songs now I think you know we jump on the timelines and we we start attributing all of 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 I it’s almost become kind of treacherous I think to tell the truth music because it stops being about the music so quickly I think it depends where you look though I really do think that yes that is there and that kind of noise has always been there in certain ways and different ways and I think now with social media it’s definitely more present or more available also I do think that there are so many more people that are just able to 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 that are able to do that than the other or maybe that’s me being Eternal Sunshine ignorance is BL no you’re not being idealistic at all the access is is far greater but you sit it beautifully there as long as we take what we need from it right cuz it’s no longer mine really it’s for you so right if I send it to a friend and they have their own experience with it or they take from it a new meaning that I didn’t even consider when writing it that’s you know the beauty of it it’s not really mine anymore that’s why I that’s when it clicked for me and I was listening to it and I thought okay you know it starts with a question and it 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 piece of advice that anyone with any wisdom will give you which is don’t forget about the little things when did you realize that the album had that start that question but you also had the answer at the end honestly I I didn’t realize it until I found the voice note I knew ordinary things was the end of the album I was like this is the last song but I wonder how I can put that button on it and have it land emotionally the way that I feel it can and how can I 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 most hilarious person in the world and um I had this like 30 minute voice note of her and her friend Shirley talking and um it was just right smack in the middle of it and I said oh my God that’s the answer what did you hear with in your laughter after cuz your laughter 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 means to I don’t know yeah I I don’t know I mean I think it’s a little bit of wow our our loved ones our friends and our family have the ability to instantly just sort of soothe and calm and simplify things that are so complicated and heavy at times like they just have that instant ability sometimes how much did kind of stepping away from the sort of day-to-day or or project to project type routine of of releasing a record and I know you didn’t necessarily to positions the way you had done in the past but still it felt like you were moving with regularity and getting to focus on on Wicked did it did it kind of help 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 music as far from my brain as humanly possible while I was making while I was working on Wicked because I think in order to fully give myself to Glenda I needed to really really really really put that in a box in a big way everything from the way I sing to the way I speak the way I everything kind of had to be different for a long time so that I could be fully present in it it also really allowed for coming back to it to feel so much more special and so much more um enjoyable yeah I learned a lot about H I don’t know I I I had a very interesting relationship to music before I left for Wicked I think that the time away was really healing and I love I love it’s so interesting because I came came back and I’ve loved every minute of making this album the videos rehearsing putting the roll out together doing the photos Sho doing like you know every single part of it more than ever before in my life I’ve been able to be so much more present and enjoy it and savor it this time in a way that I don’t think I was able to before must have felt almost like you were working in secret which I don’t think you it must be hard to feel that way when your last arm was hugely successful you came off a tour and everyone’s still dialed into your frequency what were those days like when you’re working on your own because I know that you obviously worked with Max Mar with il which is great but I’m also really interested in that time you spent just on your own just figuring out what the songs meant to you and how you were going to construct them and produce them um well it was very vulnerable I mean you know I had this amazing trip in September that 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 EXP span upon and he left me with like a big folder I would come in and try things and FaceTime when I was done and be like what do you think is it fine I don’t know and um you know it was a very vulnerable but really fun experience I don’t know it was really special and then of course Max came back and we had so much fun and Ilia joined as well and shintaro was sending Beats from afar too so that’s kind of how it started I think the first two things that I wrote were end of the world and Eternal Sunshine so those are both sharos as well so and you knew the concept of that moment Eternal Sunshine came out because that was ultimately where it was going to let it was going to add up to to the idea I actually don’t remember when it like clicked to me that that was what was happening but yeah end of the world is such an interesting way to start the record and I think like when when is the world not coming to an end I mean at least that’s how it feels for everybody I’m sure I mean it’s like we sure make a real habit of taking a look at even the good things in our life and looking just past them at what could possibly go wrong you know do you catastrophize things as much as anybody else you know when it comes to life I try not to catastrophize I try to stay present I think that’s a lot of our work as human beings is to not live in the past or in the future but to try and just be right here and focus on the present but of course there’s that hovering dread of what could happen I think anxiety is just the byproduct of being alive I actually think it’s not something that you get Afflicted with I think it’s something you learn to live with and or acknowledge you have to learn to live you have to learn what tools work for you and how to befriend it how to shine a light on all your little monsters and see them and look at them and say okay I see you how can we live together how can we survive together how can we get through what we need to get through and work on this together you know do you still meditate I do every day what’s the what’s the trick what’s the secret because I there isn’t I mean there really isn’t struggle it’s one of the only things I can do everything else but that I just are you judging your performance are you saying okay my mind is jumping around I’m not doing a good job myself at the I’m serious that’s what most people say to me they’re like okay I don’t think I’m good at it I’m like well doing it at all is good at it I mean you really can’t judge yourself that’s a that’s a good place toide just doing it is great as David G would say it’s all a part of the meditation so if a phone rings if a dog barks yeah it was meant to happen it’s a part of the meditation how do you apply it to your to your Creative Energy like do you when you’re in a creative space sometimes do songs come from that experience I guess is 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 than it I can see it being present when I’m doing music but I think it helps everything that’s always like daunting is when you have been rehearsing something for months and months and months and then you have that one scene that one day you know and it’s like oh today is the day that has to be there so you can’t get in your own way and how do you judge yourself differently if you judge yourself at all from that position or at least approach it from a point of view of like trying of self-awareness because with music at the end of the day it’s a very personal expression from within but but on set I’d imagine if you’re looking back at a take or or or the rushes it must be hard not to look at yourself differently at least judge your performance differently and maybe be harder on yourself in that sense I try to not really do much of that uh with acting or with Wicked in particular because I I mean I loved to see stuff because it was exciting to take a peek every now and then and see whatever but I just didn’t want to be too aware or conscious of you know I just kind of wanted to be living in there in her and not aware of what that looks like yeah totally and you have to trust the director and Trust the people on set to so they go what they need right yeah totally I think it’s could be a little distracting was there a song that when you were working on this album that kind of presented itself with no delay and no obstruction whatsoever and it just fell fell out of the magic space for you something really beautiful about this writing process was that if it was taking too long or if it became too mathematic or if it became too we drilling this pre chorus to get the right thing we kind of would bounce around or try a different idea or come back to it and whatever and just do Melody passes until it just fell out so I kind of do feel like everything fell into place that way with this album just sort of organically and um cuz it was fast right you did it quickly it was fast but it wasn’t too fast I it was like 3 and a half months I don’t know how people leave the studio I mean I can imagine it’s just such a rewarding place to be that to actually execute on something must be one of the hardest things like how they let like let letting it go yeah like I thought that must be where the emotion was coming 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 really I’m a cancer it’s all it’s all very emotional yeah I I can imagine that that that was kind of part of what was going through will you tell me what was going through your mind when you f started to play it to people and the emotion caught you off guard I think I’ve been doing this a long time with the same team from Republic records and I love them all so much you know how many times I’ve called Monty and Wendy and Joe and Avery and to he and Roo and Donna to hear a record to hear a song it’s been this is my seventh time it’s just a long time to be doing this and I think this is the first time that I have felt truly present for it and able to enjoy it the way that we were talking about before um so that was emotional you know it was just like a beautiful thing to see these fa of people that I love and have worked with and survived so much with for so long and this is like our first time that we’ve done this that it’s felt this way for me and also that I’ve been able to give my all to it this way even to do like interviews and stuff I don’t really do that kind of stuff but I’m like excited to does that make sense I’m excited I’m like proud and grateful and I feel like oh my goodness what a gift to be able to make this art and for so long I think I was in um hiding from it hiding from my success or from 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 God I don’t want to get choked up but but but but um but yeah it was really making me resentful I think for a little bit of time and I don’t feel that anymore and I feel like I’m able to let go of that and enjoy it and um I feel really proud and grateful for that sorry to like go there but it feels very different I think that’s why I was so choked up even just playing them the the songs cuz I was like waa this feels so different this time what was really hard for us as fans was to see this thing that you were giving to us as a gift to your point feel like it was soundtracking these tough T times and I I wouldn’t have I wouldn’t have blamed you if you hadn’t made a record for a long time I think between like that the unpredictability of what we were just discussing versus also like the game 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 that 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 to pit me against people I love I didn’t know that you know it was going to do such strange things and I think I was very young and processing all of that I kind of married that to music in my head for a while I was like oh well I can’t continue doing that I was talking to someone else who’s made an album which is deeply rooted in in um love lost uh very recently and I made the observation that it even though the album goes through all of these different experiences of losing someone that you care about it actually still was a love album to me because you know this feels very much like that yeah it does to me there’s not to me it doesn’t just have to be an everlasting love story mm love is complicated showcasing um both sides of it is kind of what I tried my very best to balance in the music is you know this feeling can be true and this feeling can also be true simultaneously and I think that’s something that we can ignore sometimes you know what what really helps you face it down as Saturn’s return I remember mine super well yeah I do and um it’s a unique experience because it’s almost a mathematically perfect equation but is unique to everybody else it’s like one of those things that is a planetary alignment that really should put us all in some grid but it’s not like that it’s super individual and it applies itself like magic to everyone’s life so Ari what was your sat’s return like oh my gosh H my Saturn return what was it like it was um it was pretty chill nothing changed pretty uneventful seriously pretty uneventful nothing yeah I can’t think of a thing that changed my life you don’t have to go into specifics but from a personal level how did you grow in all seriousness I think I kind of learned that I wasn’t really listening to myself in a lot of in a lot of areas where I I could have been it’s like my my nervous system was screaming at me to make certain changes for a long time but I think I I I was kind of a person who wasn’t listening I don’t know I just made I tried to listen to it more it’s an interesting time in your life because it applies itself to every aspect and I think we make a lot of it about relationships and a lot of it about self but no it’s about it’s so much about your relationship to yourself yeah that’s mainly what I mean yeah like for me I was like oh I’m not listening to myself I need to start listening to my why am I doing this you know it’s not protective to ignore these feelings it’s actually counterproductive it’s actually more harmful to not Supernatural as a song um I love it’s it’s one of those moments that to me kind of comes out and and is an immediate comforting and very moment but I love the sentiment of Supernatural and the idea of what it means um what is most magic about life to you where is the magic in life for you in art in human Connection in the people I love in laughter and creating something you’re proud of um there’s so much today I’ll say definitely I’ll focus it on the art there’s so much magic in art do you remind yourself more often than not throughout the day to appreciate where you where you stand absolutely I think the only possible way to survive is with gratitude is to stay rooted in gratitude and sort of be thankful every day for everything it’s so easily taken away and it’s so easy to get wrapped up in negativity or what you know challenges are here in the day it’s time to get into this kind of concept a little more because for me at least because I love the film and I recognize now that there was a thread from the movie not just on a literal sense but just the feeling of the movie that goes through the record um what prompted you to to link this album to the film if it is that literal I think it the movie is so beloved because so many people can relate to knowing that something isn’t right but loving so much and wanting to stay and wanting to figure it out and that cycle that can happen in the film I think that’s why the film is so belov it it’s because so many people can relate to it and I think it kind of fell into place that these songs had little tidbits of that theme do you remember the first time you watched it by it I was really young I’m a massive I’m a massive Jim Carrey fan I don’t know if you know this but my first screen name was Jim Carrey fan 42 so so I was definitely very young uh it’s always been a favorite of mine what’s it been like meeting him thrilling he is even better you know how sometimes you get nervous to meet your people because you never know how they’re going to be and it’s very scary he couldn’t be better I love him so much more after meeting him and um working with him on kidding What’s maxm like I just I just want to made him he is he’s like the biggest mystery the most successful pop producer he just turned into an absolute child it my favorite thing what’s not smart like no he’s the best person in the world I think who he is is who he is as a human being and the fact that like his success and all that he’s done hasn’t at all inflated his ego or his humanness like he’s just the coolest guy ever he’s so nice he’s kind to every single person he encounters and he’s nurturing in the studio like he how does he get the truth like how does he get those performances in that truth out and yet make it feel like it’s my life he’s very thoughtful when it comes to things like that cuz usually I’ll go too far like I’ll still way I’ll be way too you know I’ll I I like to write like no one’s ever going to hear it ever and then sometimes I want want to dilate back or change things or redo things and um he’s got such an amazing ability to ride that balance and know what people need to hear and what I need to say too like he’ll stand up for me he’ll be like no you deserve to say that he also know that like hey you can say that in a way that’s not going to distract people from the song 100% or he’ll be like this is more aligned with the Ari you know what I mean it’s he he’s amazing um but we’ve we had some an amazing and therapeutic time together we walk to work together every day um you did yeah we’d walk in the Highline it was so fun long days too yeah and then we’d like have a glass of wine and sit there and listen to what we did and like laugh and it was just the best can you disappear here can you walk the Highline and just disappear literally anywhere in New York it’s so funny it’s really funny I just walk around if I have like a little Beanie or hat and I just I love it I need it like and that’s what I loved about London so much was I got to do that every single weekend and it’s nice to just be able to explore and roam around and it’s New York everyone lives in New York everyone used to seeing people in New York I think about true story and and what I love about that song is how playful it is and how it leans into the into the idea of like what is real and what’s not like you called a true story but I actually don’t not sure if it is it’s an untrue story based on all untrue events exactly it sets up the boy’s mind obviously it’s kind of 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 track list the boy is mine I mean the original is a classic yes I love that song I’ve always like wanted to reimagine that song in some kind of way why on this album where did I mean where were you when you came out with the idea of wan to add to that when I saw my fans reaction to fantasize because they love it so much so this one was was an extension of that in a way I think I kind of was like this is a very bad idea I think but there is a large group of my fans that really they do Love a Bad Girl Anthem and I this is kind of I think an elevated version of that it’s kind of Pop’s job to some degree to be provocative right and to be an escape for in some way but yeah I thank you I’m glad that you love it did you work on that one on your own as well or did you work on no that was Max and I that was our first trip that was one of the first ideas that we started everything fell into place with that Tempo change though yeah and we and when once he did that I was like oh this is a problem did it feel like the album was was really reality when when when when a song like that shows up it’s like okay now I’ve got to find a bunch to go around it because it can’t just sit on its own yeah the first that Max and I did together was don’t want to break up again and the second we did together was The Boy Is Mine and once we had those we kind of couldn’t believe that they happened so quickly and we were just kind of like oh we might be making something you know when I listen to your vocals on the record um and obviously being a fan of you as a performer as well was a writer and a producer um and an artist in general is is that hearing you sing often I get to explore with you your range and find where you can take it emotionally it on this record I feel like you and I don’t if it was on purpose I’d love to get your take on it but the performance feels like you chose those moments very deliberately and a lot of the time you just L the writing kind of be at the Forefront thank you yeah that’s actually super intentional I love to be Discerning with how much I want to go there vocally it’s one of my favorite things is to watch girls just like sling down and and but I I kind of am very Discerning with what moments I decide to go there we can’t be friends on that song which is kind of like a a sort of classic sort of emotive Dance Floor moment where you sort of dancing to something and I can’t quite tell whether it’s it’s sort of final or it’s flirty and maybe that’s the point about that song as to whether or not it’s like well we can’t be friends or it’s like we can never be friends how does it fit into the concept over what it fits the concept um I think in a different way for me than it does for most of my friends and most of my family and people who have listened and they all sort of interpret it a little bit differently which I love about that song because I think it can be applied to any kind of relationship really again especially when you see the video I think you’ll understand the importance of it especially being the second single as well the video that we made for we can’t be friends really to me is the album in a video what do you value in Friendship what do you love about your friends the most oh my gosh just having such a space in them like no matter what is happening I feel so incredibly fine because of the people that I have in my life I know they would never you know what I mean they’re just the best I love them they’re right about everything they’re brilliant um what about you for me what I love about my friends honesty mhm oh yeah safety holding up the mirror they’re the best at that but they also have helped me understand the things I was most scared about myself and accept them over time right like to give me a place of honesty where I can talk to them and then by verbalizing those fears I’m not so afraid of them anymore and I think that’s kind of leads me to my my favorite song the record which isn’t perfect for you because I I I think it’s a beautiful tribute to that experience it’s one of my favorites as well I think my top three are we can be friends and perfect for you and Eternal Sunshine but I think the most beautiful thing about about and perfect for you is that we all know those people that we feel that way about and that we are so lucky to have because they see it all they hold space for it all and it fits in their imperfections too like we’re so lucky to have friends family loved ones that are just so accepting and real with us no matter no matter what it’s like such an important song in my opinion because we live live in a time where everything is boiled down but that song kind of Demands room for nuance and humanness and complexity that we’re so used to like being stripped of these days will you find the time and have the energy to want to tour this this album I miss doing shows I really do if there’s a chance to in between the wickeds or right after the wickeds I will of course do my best to do it I think I just have to sort of like my Rel Rel ship to music I have to redefine my relationship to doing shows because I think that’s something that suffered a lot as well because of my own trauma my own sort of like lack of boundaries when I was younger I think allowed for me to sort of have a an anxious association with it but I think that was where I was so being here now and kind of I like look forward to it I’m excited to redefine my relationship to touring into doing shows when time allows but it is something that I’m like yes I would love to I just don’t know when I appreciate you that this album to me is a really great example of what happens when somebody takes the concept of what’s going on internally and goes beyond that and builds a world that’s bigger than just your own personal experience that’s what concept are and um I think you’ve done an incredible job I appreciate you seeing this through thank you

Pop superstar Ariana Grande sits down with Zane Lowe at SUMMIT One Vanderbilt in New York ahead of her highly anticipated seventh studio album, ‘eternal sunshine.’

Ariana talks about how this project organically came together over the course of three months in collaboration with Max Martin, and how her experience filming Wicked changed her approach to recording music. Ariana opens up about feeling more present than ever for the release of this album and the inspiration behind certain tracks, like “true story”, “ordinary things” and “the boy is mine.”

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