While Ariana Grande was making Wicked, she deliberately didn’t talk to her fans that much — which is why she’s so grateful they’ve come out in a “beautiful” way to support the movie and its soundtrack.

The newly minted Golden Globe nominee tells The Hollywood Reporter about how her relationship with her fans has changed since Wicked came out. “My fans have grown with me through so many different phases and eras of music and phases of my life,” she said, noting that they have “embraced Glinda and Wicked and been here for me to support me.”

“I wasn’t really on social media at all during the filming process of this. I wasn’t really engaged the way that I normally am able to be with them because I just wanted to give myself fully over to this experience and not be on my phone that much,” she says.

“And they called it ‘The Dark Ages,’” she continues. “I’m not kidding. And that’s just because they missed me. But … it’s a beautiful thing to be on this other side of it and for them to recognize the work that I was doing and to grow with them.”

Ariana went on say that she feels that she’s “grown up” with her fans “my entire adult life” and added, “They’ve embraced this new chapter in the way that I’m really deeply grateful for. I just want to make them proud really. It’s beautiful.”

Meanwhile, Ari tells Deadline that to prepare for her role as Glinda in the film, she “trained for three months, six days a week before my first vocal audition.” She says, “I just wanted to be ready by the time they saw me so that if I had a chance, I was giving it all I got.”

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