Ariana Grande performed a spoof of Mariah Carey‘s All I Want For Christmas Is You’ during her Saturday Night Live monologue – watch the moment below.
Grande hosted the show for the third time last night (December 20), rounding off the year for SNL alongside Cher, who appeared as musical guest for the first time in almost 40 years.
During her monologue, the ‘Sweetener’ singer vented about the difficulties of buying presents for acquaintances in a spoof of Carey’s festive classic titled ‘What Do I Get for Christmas for This Dude?’.
“December is my favourite time of year in New York,” Grande began. “I love the decorations, the snow on the ground. I love shopping for all my loved ones. But I have to admit, I get a little stressed shopping for certain other people in my life”.
The audience then cheered when they realised she was taking on the Carey track.
“I don’t know what to get for Christmas for my cousin’s boyfriend, Steve,” she sang to the melody. “I don’t know a thing about him, only see him on Christmas Eve.”
Grande also joked about her press tour for Wicked‘s recent sequel, Wicked: For Good, singing: “Haven’t shopped a lot for Christmas, ‘cause my schedule’s never free/ Had so much press for Wicked, Jon Chu will not let me pee.”
Her co-star Bowen Yang then joined her on stage, prompting Grande to tease that he had very few lines in the film: “Can I just say how much I loved your line in Wicked?”
“Thank you,” he said, to which Grande replied “You’re welcome!”
“No,” Yang clarified. “That was my line.”
Saturday’s episode marked Yang’s final, as news broke Friday that he would be exiting the show.
The soon-to-wrap season premiered on NBC and Peacock back in October, and among the season’s hosts so far have been Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter – who was her own musical guest – and Amy Poehler, while the other musical guests have included Doja Cat, Olivia Dean and Sombr.
Elsewhere, scrutiny from the current Wicked: For Good press tour has pushed Grande to give fans a “friendly reminder” not to comment on her body in a new social media post. It follows she and Erivo recently sharing emotional farewells to their respective Wicked characters on Instagram.
Wicked: For Good has scored a three-star review from NME, with Nick Levine writing: “The one truly showstopping moment is Elphaba and Glinda’s climactic rendition of ‘For Good’, a big, blustery show tune that sums up their entire relationship. Wicked: For Good doesn’t defy gravity like its predecessor but fans will want to hold space for a sequel with a very poignant payoff.”
Grande recently shed light on how her Wicked role helped facilitate “healing” in her relationship to touring. It comes ahead of her tour next summer, which will mark her first live run in six years.
The musician’s last musical output was her March 2024 album ‘Eternal Sunshine’, an expanded deluxe version of which she shared earlier this year, complete with six new tracks.
