Ariana Grande Calls Out Double Standards for Male Actors After Being Criticized for Changing Her Voice
Ariana Grande is once again addressing the changes in her speaking voice, pointing out that male performers rarely face the same level of criticism she has received. The pop star, who has been playing Glinda in the upcoming *Wicked* films, opened up about the issue during her appearance on the July 9 episode of Evan Ross Katz’s *Shut Up Evan* podcast.
Grande first explained her voice changes in June, after a clip of her abruptly switching tones on Penn Badgley’s *Podcrushed* went viral. She took to TikTok to explain that she had been “speaking like this for two years” while on the set of *Wicked*, noting that using a higher register was better for her vocal health.
On Katz’s show, Grande elaborated further. “I did just spend a long time playing a character every single day and training my voice to do different things,” she said of her role as Glinda opposite Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba. “The voice is in the body, it’s an instrument, and muscle memory is a real thing. That’s a normal thing for people who, it’s their job to transform.”
The Grammy winner also highlighted the double standards in Hollywood regarding such transformations. “You see male actors — sure, people make jokes here and there as well about everybody who experiences something like this — but it’s always after the fact that they’re like, ‘Oh, wow, how dedicated to his craft. What an amazing transformation! He’s a brilliant performer!’” she said. “And God forbid I sneeze like Glinda.”
Grande expressed frustration over being scrutinized for her speech habits, saying, “I had a job to do. People change and habits happen. It’s a strange thing to be under such a microscope.”
During the podcast, Grande also discussed other topics, including her decision to deactivate her X (formerly Twitter) account and her response to body shaming with a vulnerable TikTok last year, which she described as “impulsive” but doesn’t regret. She and Katz also touched upon her choice to remain silent amid the backlash to her relationship with *Wicked* co-star Ethan Slater.
“There’s still a lot of misperceptions about everything out there,” Grande told Katz. “I’ve sent you so many drafts of things like, ‘I want to say this so badly!’ I always sleep on it and I always come back around to protecting and not taking that bait, because what I have discovered is that protecting my peace and my privacy and the actual details … sometimes when it would be addressing something, you would actually be exposing more of your actual real life
