Ariana Grande Just Went Back to Her Brunette Roots

Grande dyed her hair honey blonde after being cast as Glinda in the massive movie musical. “As soon as Ariana came in, she wanted to go blonde, which was a great idea because it gave her the feeling every day of being Glinda,” hair and makeup department lead Frances Hannon told Glamour in an exclusive breakdown of Wicked’s approach to beauty.

According to Hannon, going blonde in real life helped Grande fully embody her character, even though she wore a blonde wig for filming: “So for all the dance rehearsals and everything she had to do, she went in blonde herself.… She wanted to feel like she was bringing Glinda into everything,” she said. “The visual of the blonde, no different from [Elphaba’s] green, was very important to her.”

Grande has also embraced her light hair in her life and career outside the Wicked universe for the past three years: It graced the cover of her 2024 studio album, Eternal Sunshine, and has accompanied her to every red carpet, from the Grammys to the Met Gala. But with Wicked: For Good, the conclusion of the Oscar-winning Broadway adaptation, premiering on November 21, 2025, she’s teased a return to her roots in more ways than one.

Over the summer, Grande announced her 2026 Eternal Sunshine Tour, which will be her first pop tour since the close of her Sweetener circuit in 2019. While the singer has fully committed to musical-theater mode for the past few years, “Arianators” have been especially nostalgic for her previous pop and beauty eras—particularly, her iconic ponytail of “Thank U, Next” fame.

As she closes out her Wicked chapter (and undoubtedly delivers a few more viral press-tour moments, this time as a brunette), we’re excited to see what else is in store for a post-Oz Ariana Grande.

Grace McCarty is the associate beauty editor at Glamour.