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Ariana Grande sings The Wizard and I in throwback celebrating Oscar nomination

It's been a role long manifested.

Ariana Grande wearing a yellow dress with her body turned to the side in front of a green background.

Max Cisotti/Dave Benett/WireImage

Published: Thursday, 23 January 2025 at 3:43 pm

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Ariana Grande has received her first ever Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Galinda 'Glinda' Upland in Jon M Chu's Wicked, and has celebrated with an epic throwback.

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Responding to the nominations, the singer posted a carousel of images from her childhood and beyond, including one of her dressed as Dorothy, a promotional picture of her as Glinda along with a picture of her and co-star Cynthia Erivo and a video of teenage her singing The Wizard and I.

She captioned the post: "Picking my head up in between sobs to say thank so much to The Academy for this unfathomable recognition. I cannot stop crying, to no one's surprise.

"I'm humbled and deeply honoured to be in such brilliant company and sharing this with tiny Ari who sat and studied Judy Garland singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow just before the big, beautiful bubble entered.

"I'm so proud of you tiny. Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for this acknowledgment The Academy."

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She went on to thank Jon M Chu for taking a chance on her, as well as Cynthia Erivo.

"I don't quite have all my words yet, I'm still trying to breathe," she rounded off the post. "But thank you. Oh my goodness, thank you. Universal, Marc, my family, my heart."

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Wicked received a total of 10 nominations, including for Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for Cynthia Erivo and the coveted Best Picture.

The other seven nominations include Best Costume Design, Best Make-up and Hairstyling, Original Score, Production Design, Film Editing, Achievement in Sound and Visual Effects.

Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Galinda in Wicked, both staring out over Oz, which is green and vibrant.

Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda in Wicked. Universal Pictures

The first part of Wicked was released late last year and is to be followed up with For Good in November of this year, telling the latter half of the story of the witches of Oz.

Following its cinematic release, the movie broke multiple records in its opening weekend, including the biggest global and domestic opening for a movie based on a Broadway show, beating the worldwide opening of Les Misérables.

The Oscars will take place on Sunday 2nd March - watch this space!

Wicked: For Good is scheduled for release on 21st November 2025.

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Authors

Black and white cut-out portrait headshot of Katelyn Mensah, smiling against a lime green background.

Katelyn MensahSenior Entertainment Writer

Katelyn Mensah is the Senior Entertainment Writer for Radio Times, covering all major entertainment programmes, reality TV shows and the latest hard-hitting documentaries. She previously worked at The Tab, with a focus on reality TV and showbiz news and has obtained a BA (Hons) in Journalism.

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