Ariana Grande Putting New Music on Hold While Filming WICKED Movies

Ariana Grande has revealed that she is putting new music on hold while she films the upcoming Wicked movies.

During a Q&A for her beauty brand, R.E.M. Beauty, Grande shared that she has not started working on her seventh studio album due to devoting her time to filming The Voice and preparing for her Wicked audition.

"I started hearing murmurs about a Wicked audition coming soon, so I went into full preparation mode while I was also shooting The Voice," she explained. "So I was shooting and then also doing lessons every day because I just wanted to be prepared ... I know that I know the material like the back of my hand, but I have so much to learn and I want to be prime condition, so I went pretty hard getting ready."

Grande is slated to star as Glinda in the Wicked film adaption alongside Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba. It was recently announced by director Jon M. Chu that the Wicked movie will be released in two parts.

Now, as production on the films begin this summer, Grande will be focusing completely on playing Glinda.

"'Thank Goodness,' literally, the most incredible gift of my entire life is, you know, this role that I have adored since I'm 10 years old and that is going to have every piece of me, every minute, every ounce of my heart, my time, my soul, my everything that I can give it," Grande said. "My hands are quite full with a lot of other thrillifying work at the moment ... I am spending all of my time with Glinda."

In October 2020, Grande released her sixth studio album, "Positions." The album followed "Thank U, Next" in 2019 and "Sweenter" in 2018. Her other works include "Dangerous Woman," "My Everything," and "Yours Truly." In 2021, Grande won her second Grammy Award for "Rain On Me," her collaboration with Lady Gaga.

Ariana Grande began professionally pursuing her musical career at only eight-years-old. She appeared in the original Broadway cast of Jason Robert Brown's 13: The Musical and played Penny Pingleton in the 2016 NBC live telecast of Hairspray. Grande is the winner of two Grammy awards, one Brit Award, two Billboard Music Awards, three American Music Awards, nine MTV Video Music Awards, and 26 Guinness World Records.

Currently the 5th longest-running show in Broadway history, Wicked is the winner of over 100 international awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards. Since opening in 2003, Wicked has been performed in over 100 cities in 16 countries around the world (U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, Germany, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, The Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland and China) and has thus far been translated into six languages: Japanese, German, Dutch, Spanish, Korean and Portuguese. Wicked has been seen by over 60 million people worldwide and has amassed over $5 billion in global sales.

Watch the R.E.M Beauty Q&A here: