Fans just got their longest tastes yet of two highly anticipated Wicked performances from stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, with the film sharing extended looks at the former’s “Popular” and the latter’s “The Wizard & I” Wednesday (Nov. 13).
Accompanied by a visual lyric display, the “Popular” video finds the pop star as Glinda, frenziedly dressing up the Pinocchio actress’ perplexed Elphaba in pink accessories. “Don’t be offended by my frank analysis/ Think of it as personality dialysis,” she sings on the signature track, originally performed by Kristin Chenoweth on Broadway. “Now that I’ve chosen to become a pal/ A sister and adviser, there’s nobody wiser/ Not when it comes to popular.”
In the “Wizard & I” video, Erivo roams the campus of Shiz University and explores the Ozian outdoors while belting out the hopeful ballad, adding her own custom riffs. (Sorry, Wicked superfans, it looks like you’ll have to wait for the full movie to hear her take on the track’s famous final high note.)
“When I meet the Wizard/ Once I prove my worth/ And then I meet the Wizard/ What I’ve waited for since, since birth,” she sings, making the Idina Menzel-originated song her own. “He’ll say to me I see who you truly are/ A girl on whom I can rely/ And that’s how we’ll begin/ The Wizard and I.”
The new videos come just nine days ahead of the premiere of Wicked Part 1, which hits theaters Nov. 22. Part 2 will arrive one year later. Leading up to the movie’s theatrical release worldwide, the two stars — and the rest of the Wicked cast — have been traveling to various premieres, most recently greeting fans on the red carpet in Mexico City Monday (Nov. 11).
As sampled in the newly released performance videos, both Grande and Erivo sang live vocals on the set of Wicked. “When we were shooting it, those girls were like, ‘F–k the pre-records,” Chu recalled in a March Vanity Fair interview. “We’re going live.’”
Watch Grande sing “Popular” above, and see Erivo perform “The Wizard and I” below.
