Ariana Grande is opening up about nearly quitting music.
During an appearance on the Shut Up Evan podcast, posted Friday (Oct. 24), the 32-year-old pop star and actress spoke with host Evan Ross Katz about her plans to step away from music after taking on her role in Wicked.
The “We Can’t Be Friends” singer revealed she had considered leaving music altogether after being cast as Glinda in the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. Her last album before the movie, 2020’s Positions, was initially intended to be her final release.
“I didn’t think I was gonna make an album ever again,” Grande told Katz. “When I left for London, that was kind of my secret, but I didn’t think I was going to.”
She added that playing Glinda in the Wicked films “totally rearranged everything about [her] relationship to creating,” inspiring her to record her 2024 album, Eternal Sunshine, which spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
“I felt like just a genuine spark, like a reconnection and inspiration and something, I mean, maybe I missed it,” Grande said. “Maybe it’s as simple as I missed it. But I do feel like you have to miss things in order to learn to become better for them. I think I learned so much, and then also I genuinely wanted to do it. I just felt like I couldn’t not. It was an inspired moment and I had to write an album and I had to do it.”
Grande is now gearing up for a limited run of tour dates in 2026 to support the album. Launching June 6 in Oakland, California, she will perform in cities including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago and Montreal, before wrapping up with five shows at London’s O2 Arena in August. Her last tour was in 2019, and she hasn’t embarked on a full-scale tour since the Sweetener World Tour concluded that December.
Elsewhere in the podcast, Grande discussed getting advice from Madonna and Beyoncé early in her career, “cringe” culture, and more. Watch her full conversation with Katz here.
