Ariana Grande Calls Out Comments About Her Voice Changes: ‘God Forbid I Sneeze Like Glinda’

PEOPLE-  Ariana Grande is addressing recent commentary about her voice, and calling out how such criticism varies between men and women.

In an interview for the Shut Up Evan podcast with Evan Ross Katz on July 9, Grande, 31, said that her voice changing is “a normal thing people do, especially if you have a large range.”

“I did just spend a long time playing a character every single day,” Grande said, referring to her role as Glinda in the upcoming film adaptation of Broadway musical Wicked. “[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.”

Back in June, a clip of the “Yes, And?” singer went viral after her voice seemed to drastically fluctuate from high to low during her interview on the PodCrushed podcast with Penn Badgley, who recently also starred in the “Boy is Mine” music video with Grande.

Grande told Katz this week that she feels there are double standards around transformative acting for roles.

“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. “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.”

After fans initially teased the “We Can’t Be Friends” singer about the change last month, Grande first addressed her voice in a TikTok comment and said the fluctuation was out of “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 😭,” the star continued. “I’ve always done this BYE.”

Grande spoke further about vocal health on Shut Up Evan and said that maintaining it is “a full time commitment and it’s a lifestyle; it’s not something you can f— around with.”

“It’s your lifeline, it’s your instrument and it’s something that you can take out of a box and put back,” she continued. “This needs to be thought about 24/7.”

PEOPLE