Ariana Grande says her “Wicked” voice 'might stay' with her permanently: 'What a beautiful thing to be left with'

Ariana Grande’s speaking voice might just be changed for good thanks to Wicked. 

The actress revealed in a recent Variety cover story that the Transatlantic tone that she adopted in order to portray Glinda the Good Witch in the two-part movie musical — and has since continued to use throughout the first installment’s subsequent press tour — might be sticking around permanently.

“I think that might stay,” Grande told the outlet. “Galinda required a lot of vocal work for me. Certain things maybe won’t melt away. Some will, but I’m really grateful for the pieces that will stay with us forever. What a beautiful thing to be left with, and to feel the ghost of every day.”

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Related: Ariana Grande celebrates her Wicked year: 'Full of art and heart'

It’s not the only bit of Glinda that Grande hopes to keep with her moving forward. “And, you know, I’m still looking for my eyebrows,” she teased, referring to her brows which she has kept blonde since filming. “I’ll let you know if I find them — I hope I don’t.”

Earlier in the interview, Grande noted that she and costar Cynthia Erivo spent time “finding and disappearing” into their characters in order to properly bring them to life onscreen over the last two years. “So when certain inflections or mannerisms take time to melt away, sometimes people poke fun,” she added. “But we had a job to do, and we had things to get lost in — because that’s what the piece required.”

Grande’s speaking voice, interestingly enough, has been a highly-discussed topic on social media for years now, with entire YouTube videos dedicated to chronicling its changes. After starring in Wicked, she has continued to receive comments online that her voice has changed again — especially after a clip of her tone shifting while speaking on the Podcrushed podcast went viral last June.

The 31-year-old defended her voice in a TikTok comment at the time, writing, “Habit (speaking like this for two years) and also vocal health :) i intentionally change my vocal placement (high / low) often depending on how much singing i’m doing. i’ve always done this BYE.”

While speaking with Vanity Fair last September, Grande also claimed that actresses who keep their accents after filming are "treated differently" than their male counterparts. “When it’s a male actor that does it, it’s acclaimed,” she said. “There are definitely jokes that are made as well, but it’s always after being led with praise: ‘Oh, wow, he was so lost in the role.’ And that’s just a part of the job, really.”

Related: Watch Ariana Grande's Glinda meet Bowen Yang’s Pfannee in Wicked deleted scene (exclusive)

She continued, “Tale as old as time being a woman in this industry. You are treated differently, and you are under a microscope in a way that some people aren’t.”

Grande, of course, isn't the only actor who has had a hard time shaking a character's accent after filming has wrapped. Austin Butler similarly fielded criticisms about his speaking voice on social media following his performance in Baz Luhrmann's 2022 Elvis biopic, with the actor eventually seeking help from a dialect coach in order to drop the "Blue Suede Shoes" crooner's signature Southern drawl.

"It was a lot," Butler said of his vocal predicament on The Late Show last year. "I was just trying to remember who I was, I was trying to remember what I liked to do. All I thought about was Elvis for three years."

Wicked is in theaters now. Its second installment, titled Wicked: For Good, will fly into theaters Nov. 21.

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