Wicked composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz shared that while working on the songs for Wicked, they were “open to new things.” Schwartz proposed the idea of “refresh[ing] the rhythm” of the song “Popular” and “hip-hop[ping] it up a little bit,” but Ariana Grande quickly rejected it in light of sticking to the original. 

Schwartz also wrote the music for the original 2003 Broadway musical and did end up making a change to Grande’s version. 

Schwartz said he had “this idea for a new vocal ending.” He continued, “Ariana was a little hesitant about it, but I told her that if I had thought of it for the original show, this is how it would have been. Once she was reassured that this new bit of music was coming out of character, she was on board.”

Grande had already done an alternate version of “Popular” with artist Mika named “Popular Song” which is included in her debut album Yours Truly. However, this time she felt it was important to stick to her character.

Wicked was released in theaters on Nov. 22 to a $164.2 million worldwide box office. This has become the highest box office opening for a musical, exceeding Les Misérables.