Ariana Grande, who stars as Glinda in Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked,” reportedly didn’t want to perform a new version of “Popular” in the musical film. Stephen Schwartz — the composer and lyricist of the original Broadway musical as well as the movie of the same name — recently told the Los Angeles Times that he and his music team considered refreshing the “rhythm” of the number in the spirit of “being open to new things” for the film.

Ariana Grande proves herself a 'modern-day Lucille Ball' with 'Popular,' the funniest number in 'Wicked.' The film's creative team explains how it all came together.

In a new Los Angeles Times oral history, Wicked composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz explains:

While Arina Grande would have made an interesting Elphaba, the Wicked character she auditioned for first, her performance of Glinda is perfect.

It’s safe to say Ariana Grande was born to play Glinda from Wicked, and it’s been her dream for years and years. Since she found out a Wicked film was being made in 2019, she was already in vocal lessons getting re-trained at a Broadway standard.