Ariana Grande welcomed her Wicked co-star Cynthia Erivo to the stage in London last night for a surprise performance of “For Good.” The song is the titular track from last year’s sequel film Wicked: For Good, which saw Grande and Erivo reprising their roles as Glinda and Elphaba.
Joining forces at Grande’s show at London’s O2, the pair also sang a medley of “Get Happy” and “Happy Days Are Here Again.” Grande is currently on her Eternal Sunshine Tour, which comes to an end with 10 dates at London’s O2 Arena. The final show is Sept. 1.
Earlier this month, Grande announced she would be taking a “step back” following the tour. As part of Grande’s “step back,” the singer-actress will no longer appear in a London West End revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park With George, which would have reunited Grande with her Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey.
Amid concerns about the singer’s physical well-being, a rep for Grande told People in a statement, “Ariana will be taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour. She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny. This tour has been a beautiful experience for her. She loves her fans and has loved every minute of this tour so much.”
Following her rep’s statement, Grande clarified to fans that the announcement “was not a reactive or impulsive thing.” “It was something that I have decided,” she said on stage in Chicago. “A plan that I had quietly made a long time ago. It was a decision that was made from a thoughtful and empowered place.”
She added, “I heard that my fans were worried that negativity was ruining things for me, but I just have to say that could not be more the far opposite. This is not what that is. And I just want to be very, very clear, multiple things can be true at the same time: boundaries need to be set, human beings can need a break sometimes and also, this can be and will continue to be the greatest experience of my professional and creative life.”
Grande released her most recent album, Petal, in July. The singer described the LP as “a little feral,” explaining, “I wrote from a place that I don’t usually, which was like an unfiltered rage.” In a review of the album, Rolling Stone’s Rob Sheffield wrote, “That rage is all over Petal. But it suits her musically, because Ariana is always best — most herself — when she goes off the dome, talking her shit in DGAF mode.”
