Ariana Grande foreshadowed her Wicked role because she released Popular 12 years ago!?

It is well documented that Ariana Grande has always been the biggest Wicked nerd way before she bagged the role of Glinda in the long awaited film version of the musical. But what is perhaps less documented is how in the early days of her pop career, as the child star Nickelodeon shackles were dropping off, Ariana Grande already released a pop version of the most famous Glinda solo Popular, foreshadowing her role in Wicked over 12 years later. Wild.

It’s also probably the worst pop song that’s ever touched my ears – but who cares! It’s for the plot. For the lore. Here’s the story of how Ariana Grande foreshadowed her Glinda role in Wicked with Popular Song all the way back in 2012.

Popular Song

ariana grande sampling ‘popular’ from ‘wicked’ for her song popular song, 2013 pic.twitter.com/2J5DVmvOdC

— Pop & Hot Culture (@notgwendalupe) November 24, 2024

So, the song is Popular Song – and also features Mika. Yes, that Mika. It originally featured on Mika’s album, but did not have Ariana Grande on it. Priscilla Renee provided guest vocals instead, and the song had a completely different arrangement than the one that we saw eventually released in the final few days of 2012. MIKA got Ariana Grande on board because he wanted this single to have a revamp with a more pop style that sounded similar to his mega hit Grace Kelly. It sounds absolutely nothing like Grace Kelly, but still.

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Whilst Popular Song isn’t a direct cover of Popular from Wicked, it does sample the song Ariana Grande would go on to perform as Glinda heavily. It was all a bit weird really, because it has a major school theme and Mika was 29 when it came out. Nonetheless, the “la, la, la, la” melody from the original is a motif throughout, and the chorus riffs on Popular very closely except the lyrics are

Popular, I know about popular
It’s not about who you are or your fancy car
You’re only ever who you were
Popular, I know about popular
And all that you have to do, is be true to you
That’s all you ever need to know
Catch up, cause you got an awful long way to go
Catch up, cause you got an awful long way to go

The music video

The song got a music video, and as well as being on Mika’s album first it was on Ariana’s debut album Yours Truly. It didn’t chart in the UK, but got to 87 in America. The video had a weird, spooky-school Addams Family vibe to it. It showed Mika and Ariana Grande getting bullied and then taking revenge on those that were mean to them. They invite them round for dinner, poison them and the poison turns the bullies to stone – and then Mika and Ariana smack them to smithereens.

In the final twist, it shows that Mika bullied Ariana when they were kids and she hasn’t forgiven him and he turns to stone too. Very random.

I’d love to go back in time and tell Ariana Grande that by the way, 12 years in the future you’re going to be performing the actual version of this song in the long awaited movie version of Wicked. What a full circle moment!

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