Can you feel the love in the building? Go, Ariana, go, Ariana. Come on.
Thank you so much. I miss you, bud. I miss you.
I miss you. How is everything? How's life? Great. It's been so many years since I've been actually physically here.
I missed you. Last time you did me a favor, it was during Zoom. You helped us out.
Yeah, you did me a nice solid. You owe me a favor. You know, and then, but you had gotten wicked.
Yes, but I couldn't tell you yet. No, you couldn't. Wait, so we're talking, and I'm going like, are you going to do any more acting?
And you're like, uh-huh. This was the sweetest thing ever, because Jimmy was being such an amazing friend to me. He knew about my audition process that I was going through when we were filming our music video for Masked Christmas that we did for your Christmas present. That's right. Thank you for doing that.
Yes, that was so much fun. But, um... I had so much fun, too.
I had so much fun, too. That was the best day. But he knew that I was going through this audition process, and I couldn't tell anyone that I had the role yet.
I was, like, sworn to secrecy. And two days before our interview... I had gotten the call and I was like, I'm sure I can't.
You must have freaked out. Yes, but I was trying to subliminally like tell you through the screen that I got it. So I was wearing, so I wore this big pink embellishment, this big pink choker sparkle thing.
I was like, maybe he'll think that's the fact that I got it. It didn't work. Here's the thing. You were so sweet. You were like, you should do more acting.
And I was like, I got it. It's okay. You don't have to say that. No.
I knew it in my head. I kept the secret as well. Perfect.
I'm so happy for you. I found a tweet that you put out in 2011, by the way. It said, love seeing Wicked again. Amazing production.
Made me realize, again, how badly I want to play Glinda at some point. Dreamer. You did it! You did it!
It's hot! It's hot! Buddy, buddy, buddy. Can you believe this?
I know how much work went into this, because I would check in with you and go, how's it going, and blah, blah, blah. Bless you. Even just, bless you.
See, how nice to see you. Someone's sneezing, yeah, of course. But you get this role, and now the trailer's out. Everyone got to see it.
Are you relieved? You're like, yes, I can talk about everything. It's just so surreal to see, of course, the response.
You know, this is something that Cynthia and I lived every single day, the brilliant Cynthia Erivo. Cynthia Erivo. So good. And you know it was ours for so long and it was just every single day for such a long time and to share it with people and to feel the love that we've received in response has been really overwhelming.
But the funniest thing is people saying it must be so weird to see it with all the VFX now. Isn't that weird? And I'm like... Well, yes, they did add some flying monkeys and some animals.
But these were really practical sets that we were so blessed to be a part of. That's real. Yeah, Nathan designed these incredible sets and spent months and months building them.
So what you're seeing is... That´s a real thing. It was just so special.
Yeah, it´s really... That´s wild. Do you remember once we talked about that you...
I think it was Wicked we were talking about, and you met Kristen Chenoweth. Yes, I did. You were 10 or something?
Yes. So, I was 10 years old. and I was so lucky. My mom spoiled me.
I got to see the original Broadway cast. And they were doing the Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS auction, where you can bid to go backstage and win a tour and meet the cast. And I kept raising my hand. And my mom was like,"'Ariana, that's enough. That's enough."And I kept bidding. -"Ariana, we don't have Ariana Grande money yet, okay? We are living in our world right now. Stop bidding on this."But she spoiled me, and I got to go.
go backstage and meet the cast. I met Norbert Leo Butz. I met Idina Menzel.
Oh, God. Norbert Leo Butz is great, too. Oh, my God. I love everyone so much.
But we got to Kristen's dressing room, which was at the very end of the hall, and she invited me in and let me overstay my welcome. Her dog peed on the couch. We cleaned it up together. No way! This isn't even part of the auction.
You go, I didn't know this was part of the prize. Yes. I was like, oh, my gosh.
Was that a part of the bid? Yeah, this is amazing. I love this.
You get to clean up Kristen's Jen With Dogs pee. Yes. So we cleaned up the pee, and then she gave me a little wand.
Yes, you told me. This is what you told me. She gave you a wand and, like, glitter or something. Oh, yes, the shower gel.
She gave me this little tiny thing of magical shower gel. And I remember, like, every single day, dipping a tiny little pinky in and using a little bit. I used other soap as well.
Yeah, yeah, no, no. You're very, no. If you can smell, Ariana, you're one of our best smelling guests. Oh, thank you.
Yes, you're always clean and fresh. Thank you so much. Beautiful smelling.
But, yeah, I really think it was magical. Now, I'm, like, looking back, I'm, like, maybe. I don't know.
Congratulations on everything. And then the album, which kind of became Eternal Sunshine, it kind of came as a surprise to fans, including me, who I study every move that you make. I'm like, when are you going to put an album out?
I thought you were going to do it after Wicked. I did too. I thought that as well. I didn't, but you know.
When the strike happened, I went home to see my family, of course, first and foremost. I went to see Nona and my dad and my family. And after that, I just, I booked a week in the studio and I asked the brilliant Max Martin if he wanted to come.
wanted to come be with me. Love Max Martin. Yeah. And we had this week in the studio.
It was just the two of us. And by the end of the week, we had, you know, five songs that are on this album. And he was like, just keep going and I'll come back in a month. And we, it just came out.
You can't stop though. That's part of you. It's in you.
And you've got, you're such a pro. When we did our song, our comedy song together, I was like, Oh, I want to think of this. And you took it to the next level.
You're a pro. You just got in the studio. You're like, is this okay? You're harmonizing with yourself. I'm like, are you kidding me?
You're the most. I've ever met in my entire lifetime. No, no, no.
That's too generous. That's very nice. And then you put this out, and it went number one, of course. Obviously, there you go.
Which also... Which also, you broke a record. You became the first female artist to have 14 songs surpass 1 billion streams on Spotify.
Yes. 40 billion! That can't be possible. 40 billion with a B.
That's so strange. Isn't that the most bizarre? I know you don't do it for these awards, but come on. Just keep going, buddy. You're so great.
And the boy is mine. You're doing that tonight? Yes, we're doing that tonight.
And the video comes out tomorrow morning, directed by Christian Boussard. Now, no spoilers, obviously, about the video for the Boyz II Men, but I heard rumors of... Too late. It's on the tip of my tongue.
Go ahead. Oh, really? I'm kidding. I'm kidding. There's cameos.
Yes, yes. know? Yes, definitely. Yeah, there are a couple of little things.
The video stars Penn Badgley, who I've been a fan of my entire life. So it was just so amazing to work with him. I'm such a fan.
He's a good guy. Yeah, super on it. Boy Is Mine, that comes out tomorrow, and call all of your favorite radio stations and request a song as well.
Yeah. Thank you. I wanted to show you something. I know, isn't it good that I didn't have it? I don't know.
Are you my mom or my publicist? I'm your mom. Yeah, I wanted to tell you that tonight. I don't know why I just felt like saying that. Thank you.
Because I love radio, and I listen to you on Sirius XM and all the stuff. Fabulous. So why not call them up and talk to your DJs?
Wow. What do you want to hear? I want to hear.
Play it for us! There you go. No problem. I'll play it for you right now on Z10745. Wow.
That's incredible. Thank you for that. No problem.
Thank you. No, I'm trying. I'm in character. Now I'm out of character.
I've known you for years and your awesome family and known your mom, Joan, who I love, and your brother. And years ago, you gave me one of the nicest things ever. I don't know if you remember even giving me this.
You gave me a sweatshirt with your baby picture on it. So cute. And I loved it so much that I... I look exactly the same.
You really do, yeah. Yes, exactly. I wanted to give you a little something, too. This is a sweatshirt for you.
This is... Oh, thank you. I was five years old.
I was five. I was in the... I was five years old. I was in the Navy. And it was a rough time for me.
But, Ariane, yeah, so this is a gift for you. I love you so much. Congratulations on everything. Eternal Sunshine is out! And Ariane is performing for us later in the show.
Come back more with Ron Howard on tonight's show. Stick around, everybody. Come back. Hey,