Ariana Grande Sings Cinderella Tune After Announcing She’ll Perform at the 2020 Grammys
Ariana Grande is showing off her love for show tunes again!
On Tuesday, the 26-year-old “Thank U, Next” songstress and unabashed musical theater fan, gave her 171 million followers an acoustic performance singing — across a series of videos — a verse from “The Sweetest Sounds” on her Instagram Stories.
Grande sang: “The sweetest sounds I’ll ever hear are still inside my head / The kindest words I’ll ever know are waiting to be said / The most entrancing sight of all is yet for me to see / And the dearest love in all the world is waiting somewhere for me / Is waiting somewhere … somewhere for me.”
It’s not the first time Grande has belted out the tune on social media, the song proving to be one of her favorites.
The duet, penned by Richard Rogers, was originally performed in the 1962 musical No Strings, where it was made famous by Diahann Carroll and Richard Kiley. Decades later, the song was performed by Brandy Norwood and Paolo Montalban in the 1997 TV adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella.
Grande’s performance comes on the heels of her big announcement that she’ll be performing at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards later this month.
A previous Grammy winner herself, Grande is up for five awards on music’s biggest night — including album of the year (for her breakup LP, “Thank U, Next”) and record of the year (for “7 Rings,” which coincidentally samples the Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune, “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music).
Last year, when Grande won her first-ever Grammy, she was famously absent from the ceremony, skipping it after a reported disagreement with producers left her feeling “stifled.”
According to Variety, Grande wanted to perform “7 Rings” during last year’s show and producers allegedly refused, prompting her to feel “insulted.” Eventually, both parties reached a compromise that included “7 Rings” as part of Grande’s stage medley and that she could pick any second song she wanted. But the singer still rejected the offer, the outlet reported.
Days before the show, Grande clapped back at producers via Twitter. “I offered 3 different songs,” she wrote at the time. “It’s about collaboration. It’s about feeling supported. It’s about art and honesty. Not politics. Not doing favors or playing games. It’s just a game y’all.. and I’m sorry but that’s not what music is to me.”
But all that seems to be in the past as the star tweeted “See you Jan. 26,” on Saturday, confirming her performance at this year’s show.
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see you jan 26 #GRAMMYs @cbs @recordingacad pic.twitter.com/ILWtSpdSHw
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) January 11, 2020
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In addition to preparing for the Grammys, Grande — who began her career on stage, as a cast member of the Broadway musical 13 when she was just 15 years old — has taken on another musical theater role. The singer is set to star in Ryan Murphy’s film adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical The Prom alongside Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Corden and Andrew Rannells.
There’s a new film adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella on the way too, though it will star another music chart-topper: two-time Grammy nominee Camila Cabello.
The movie, which will arrive in cinemas on February 5, 2021, is being produced by Corden. Tony winners Idina Menzel and Billy Porter will also star in the film (as the evil stepmother and the fairy godmother, respectively), as well Maddie Baillio — Grande’s costar from NBC’s Hairspray Live!
