2024 was a huge year forAriana Grandedue to her role in theWickedmovie, but unfortunately, her musical endeavors were not as appreciated. SinceseeingWickedon Broadway when she was only 10-years-oldand meeting Kristin Chenoweth backstage, Grande dreamed of playing Glinda Upland. She’d spoken about it in past interviews, but her successful music career seemed to be her top priority at the time. However, when it was time tocast theWickedmovie, Grande didn’t hesitate to put her pop star persona on hold to achieve her childhood dream.
However, the “7 Rings” singer wasn’t ready to abandon her pop music career entirely. On March 8th, 2024, nearly four years after “Positions,” Grande released her follow-up album,Eternal Sunshine. Despite music not being her main focus this time around,the album debuted at #1 on Billboard 200, and two of its three singles, “Yes and?” and “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)”, debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100. It may seem likeplaying Glinda inWickedwas Grande’s sole focusin 2024, butEternal Sunshinewas actually a massive part of her year, making its Grammys snub quite shocking.
Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine Was Snubbed In 2024
Grande’s Album Was Not Nominated For Album Of The Year
Despite being a #1 album in 2024,Eternal Sunshineis not up for the coveted Album of The Year award at the 2025 Grammys.The Glinda actresshas been nominated only twice for the award, once in 2020, losing to Billie Eilish, and again in 2022 as a featured songwriter on Doja Cat’sPlanet Her, losing to Jon Batiste. In fact, out of 18 nominations, three of which are pending, Grande has only won two awards. Unfortunately, the 2025 awards do not offer her another shot at Album of The Year.
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While “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)” was a massive hit, especially on TikTok,Grande’s album was overshadowed by some other 2024 album releases. Spring 2024 felt like a celebration of female artists with the amount of women who released new albums. Most prominently, music’s biggest stars, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, released their albumsCowboy CarterandThe Tortured Poets Department. Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish also released albums, and while Sabrina Carpenter’sShort N' Sweetwouldn’t come until August, her May “Espresso” release took over the world. This left little space forEternal Sunshineto stand out.
Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba vs. Ariana Grande’s Glinda: Who The Real MVP Of Wicked Is
Wicked invites comparisons between Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba and Ariana Grande’s Glinda, who are equally vital to the central story and themes.
Another massive success of the year was Charli XCX’sBrat,which defined the summer of 2024, renaming it Brat Summer. Unfortunately, with so much saturation in the market, there wasn’t any more room in the Album of The Year category for Grande’s release. Especially since Chappell Roan’s album, which was released in late 2023, was also eligible.The academy also wanted to be fair to other genres outside of pop, giving nominations to André 3000 and Jacob Collier.
Wicked Gives Ariana Grande A Bigger 2024 Success
Wicked Was A Massive Success At The Box Office
Lucky for Ariana Grande, the lack of Grammy nominations is easy to brush off with how much success she’s seen from her 2024 movie.Wicked’s box officestands at over $680 million, beating out several of the highest-grossing musical movie adaptations from past decades.Grande has already taken home Best Supporting Actress awardsfrom the Atlanta Film Critics Circle and the Hollywood Critics Association, as well as being nominated for the Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. While Oscar nominations aren’t out yet, her performance as Glinda has been getting a lot of buzz.
Whether she gets an Oscar nod or not,Wickedlooks set for several Oscars nominations. As a major part of the cast, Grande can still soak up all the success of the film. Regardless of what she does or doesn’t win, Grande’s performance as Glinda received critical acclaim upon release, with many praising how she was able to transform her voice for the role.Taking on Glinda was no easy featfor someone who spent the last decade dominating the pop charts. However, Grande accomplished it, and that’s something to be proud of.
Could Ariana Grande Focus More On Movies Over Music Going Forward?
Grande Could Have A Bright Future In The Film Industry
The last time Ariana Grande was seen as predominantly an actress was whenshe portrayed Cat Valentine on Nickelodeon’sVictoriousandSam & Cat.Since her departure from the channel, Grande has been a main pop girl, and with nine #1 songs, it didn’t seem like she’d ever leave music. However,Wickedhas proven that Grande’s talentsgo beyond her music, and she is an incredible actress, given the opportunity to prove herself. Grande was born musically inclined and proved she still loves making her own original songs with the release ofEternal Sunshine.
However, withWicked’s success and how effortlessly she stepped into Glinda’s bubble, Grande might want to dip her toes a little further into the acting pond. In a November interview withJimmy Fallon, Ariana Grande admitted that she’s not done with acting just yet. First, she still has another part of the film to promote this year withWicked: For Good’s release. Though, she also told Fallonshe’s interested in pursuing more acting opportunitiesin the future:
“I would love to. I’m very scared to freak my fans out when I talk about this just because music and being on stage will always be part of my life, so I will always be there. We will always have that together, but I really do love acting.”
WhereverAriana Grandedecides to take her career, she’ll likely see massive success that will overshadow the lack of appreciation forEternal Sunshine. Then maybe one day, if she does return to music, she’ll take home the Album of The Year award.
