"Muscle memory is a real thing" — Ariana Grande responds to voice change criticism after viral podcast interview

7 Rings hitmaker Ariana Grande recently addressed the criticism she faced for changing her voice in a viral interview. Back in June, the singer became the talk of the town after a clip from her time on Penn Badgley's PodCrushed podcast began circulating on the internet. The video saw Grande speak in a lower register than usual and suddenly switch to a higher pitch.

In a Tuesday, July 9 appearance on the Shut Up Evan podcast, Ariana Grande insisted that this was a "normal thing." Speaking about playing Glinda in the adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked, she said:

"[I trained] my voice to do different things for a long time before leaving for London and before any of this; muscle memory is a real thing."

---

"It’s the weirdest thing": Ariana Grande on the double standards behind the reactions to her voice modulation

Back in June, Ariana Grande sat down with Penn Badgley for an interview on his PodCrushed podcast. However, more than the content of the interview, Ariana Grande's style of speaking went viral online. In the middle of the interview, Grande laughed and spoke in a low pitch before she switched to a noticeably higher register while speaking about the possibility of releasing a deluxe version of her album.

"Yeah, I've been writing a lot and maybe there's some more but I would like to do a deluxe at some point," she said.

The clip immediately went viral and netizens started talking about the singer's noticeable pitch change mid-conversation. The conversation surrounding her vocal modulation led the singer to address the same in a July 9 appearance on Evan Ross Katz's Shut Up Evan podcast. When asked about the viral clip, Grande insisted that this was a "normal thing people do" especially when they have a large vocal range.

The singer recalled working on the upcoming film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked by noting how she spent a "long time playing a character every single day." The singer, who plays Glinda in the movie, told Evan Ross Katz that she had trained her voice to do "different things" for the shoot and insisted that "muscle memory" was a real thing.

Ariana Grande also spoke about the double standards surrounding transformative performance when comparing herself to male actors who did the same thing.

"I mean you see male actors, sure people make jokes here and there as well, but it’s always after the fact ‘Oh wow, how dedicated to his craft! What an amazing transformation! He’s a brilliant performer!'" she said.

She added:

"But then it’s like, god forbid I sneeze like Glinda or something, [then] it’s just that I am crazy . . . it’s the weirdest thing."

Grande had earlier addressed the viral clip back in June as she commented on a TikTok post by @scatsplat.

"habit (speaking like this for two years) and also vocal health. i intentionally change my vocal placement (high/low) often depending on how much singing i'm doing. i've always done this BYE," she wrote.

---

Ariana Grande also seemingly confirmed on the Shut Up Evan podcast on Tuesday that an extended version of Eternal Sunshine would be released. She said it was something she "can’t not do" and has "a lot of ideas."