When Ariana Grande stepped into the role of Glinda for Wicked, she didn’t just act the part — she became it. Months after wrapping the film, the pop star is still channeling her character’s higher-than-usual vocal register.
“I think that might stay,” she told Variety about her vocal timbre, which has been on display for months in recent interviews and has sparked mixed responses from fans. “When certain inflections or mannerisms take time to melt away, sometimes people poke fun. But we had a job to do, and we had things to get lost in.”
Grande’s longtime vocal coach, Eric Vetro, who’s worked with her since she was 13, played a key role in helping her embody Glinda. Through a series of physical and vocal exercises, Vetro focused on building “muscle memory” to make her transformation feel natural.
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“When you do something over and over, your muscles remember how to do it and you don’t even have to think about it anymore,” Vetro told Yahoo Entertainment. “She didn’t have to overly think about it because it was already in her body. That’s when you do your very best work.”
The results speak for themselves. “[Glinda] required a lot of vocal work for me. Certain things maybe won’t melt away,” Grande told Variety.
Of course, Grande isn’t the only actor whose voice was reshaped by a role.
Austin Butler famously spent three years living, breathing and talking like Elvis Presley while preparing for Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 film Elvis. Like Grande, Butler’s voice garnered mixed reactions from fans, with some accusing him of putting on an act — a claim his vocal coach, Irene Bartlett, publicly denied.
Austin Butler won the Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for “Elvis” in 2023. (Matt Winkelmeyer/FilmMagic)
While his Southern drawl may finally have left the building, it wasn’t without effort. As Butler revealed on The Late Show last year, he worked with a dialect coach while filming the World War II series Masters of the Air “just to help me not sound like Elvis.”
This phenomenon isn’t exactly new among Hollywood stars, said Pamela Vanderway, a linguistics strategist and founder of DialectCoaches.com.
“It’s fairly common among high-level actors whose detailed character work includes full accent integration,” she told Yahoo Entertainment. And the phenomenon isn’t limited to actors. “Many people who use multiple accents in their daily lives also experience similar shifts.”
So, why do some actors get stuck in their roles, and is it as glamorous as it sounds?
More than just an accent
Vocal transformations go beyond mimicking a voice — it’s also neurological, aiming to embody a character’s essence through a blend of psychology and physicality.
“The brain itself is rewired when doing accents,” a dialect coach, Chris Lang, told Yahoo Entertainment. “We’re literally creating new neural pathways for both the physicality of communication and the emotional or imaginative connection for communication.”
In Grande’s case, Vetro — whose clients include Sabrina Carpenter, Shawn Mendes, Katy Perry and others — began the process by grounding her in her own voice before incorporating physical exercises to help her embody Glinda.
“[Grande] would move around a lot as Glinda when we were doing vocal exercises,” he recalled. “She knew what she was doing, and then it became very natural, because it was simply in her body.”
As Lang explained, when an actor fully inhabits a different accent or dialect over a long period, the new speech patterns can feel like a new version of themselves.
That was certainly true for Butler, who told reporters backstage at the 2023 Golden Globes, “I had three years where that was my only focus in life, so I’m sure there’s just pieces of my DNA that will always be linked in that way.”
Butler’s commitment earned praise from Luhrmann, but it came at a cost. Shortly after wrapping Elvis, Butler was rushed to the hospital in “excruciating pain.”
While Butler’s response was extreme and caused by other physical strains, Vanderway says that making certain changes can take a toll.
“After prolonged effort to master and sustain an accent, some actors may feel mentally and physically fatigued,” she explained.
‘Ariana doesn’t want to be pigeonholed’
Broadway vocal and acting coach Tracey Grimaldi notes that the phenomenon of lingering accents isn’t exclusive to actors. It can also affect people who intentionally or subconsciously modify their “regional” dialects to fit a specific mold — whether it’s for a job, a partner or a desire to reinvent their identity.
“It took Henry Winkler decades to shed being just ‘The Fonz’ and get cast again,” Grimaldi, who hasn’t personally worked with Grande or Butler, explained about the actor’s Happy Days role, drawing a parallel to the actors. “Ariana doesn’t want to be pigeonholed, so she’s evolving. She was very anxious during her pop star years, and this is part of her transformation.”
Adjusting one’s accent or voice can also influence career opportunities, sometimes for better or worse. Grimaldi points to Madonna, who adopted a British accent while married to Guy Ritchie, and Christian Bale, whose mastery of various dialects left fans surprised to learn he’s actually British.
“If you stay stuck in one thing, you risk being ‘Snooki from Jersey Shore’ forever,” she said, emphasizing that these shifts are a natural part of growth and reinvention. She also urges fans to show patience with actors navigating these changes.
“Ozempic controversy aside, we applaud performers for losing weight, hitting the gym and transforming their body for a role. So, why do we judge them for transforming their voice?” she added.
‘I’m constantly changing’
For actors like Grande, the gifts Glinda left behind far outweigh the criticisms.
“People underestimate how long we spent finding and disappearing into these women,” she told Variety, referring to her co-star, Cynthia Erivo. Some of their characters’ qualities, she hopes, “will stay with us forever. What a beautiful thing to be left with, and to feel the ghost of every day.”
As for Butler, some still hear traces of Elvis in his voice, but he seems unfazed by the lingering drawl.
“I’m constantly changing,” he told Elle Australia. “Check in with me in 20 years when I’ve played a lot of roles. Who knows what I’ll sound like!”
