After Being Accused Of Putting On A Transatlantic Accent, Ariana Grande Has Explained Why Her Voice Has Changed

Back in June, a clip from her appearance on Podcrushed went viral when Ariana’s voice completely changed mid-sentence, which caught many social media users off guard. 

At the time, she responded to the discourse in a TikTok comment, where she insisted that she has valid reasons for the way that she speaks.

“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 😭” she wrote at the time, going on to add: “i’ve always done this BYE.”

And Ari addressed the situation some more during an appearance on the Shut Up Evan podcast in July.

“Another thing that is really real is that I did just spend a long time playing a character every single day and training my voice to do different things,” she said. “The voice is in the body; it’s an instrument, and muscle memory is a real thing. That’s a normal thing for people who, it’s their job to transform.”

Ariana also claimed that male actors do not face the same level of scrutiny for changing themselves for a role that female actors do. 

“You see male actors — sure, people make jokes here and there as well about everybody who experiences something like this — but it’s always after the fact that they’re like, ‘Oh, wow, how dedicated to his craft. What an amazing transformation! He’s a brilliant performer!'” she claimed. “And God forbid I sneeze like Glinda.”

“I had a job to do,” Ariana concluded. “People change and habits happen. It’s a strange thing to be under such a microscope.”

Many have compared her speech to a transatlantic accent, a blend of the English and American accents widely used by actors in the Golden Age of Hollywood, including Katharine Hepburn. 

Luckily, Ariana had the foresight to double down on her past comments in her accompanying interview with the publication, where she admitted that it can be hard to navigate the discourse.

“When it’s a male actor that does it, it’s acclaimed,” Ariana then reiterated. “There are definitely jokes that are made as well, but it’s always after being led with praise: ‘Oh, wow, he was so lost in the role.’ And that’s just a part of the job, really.” 

“Tale as old as time being a woman in this industry,” she concluded. “You are treated differently, and you are under a microscope in a way that some people aren’t.”

“It’s something that I’m just really proud of,” Ariana explained. “Part of why I did want to engage [to the backlash] is because I am really proud of my hard work and of the fact that I did give 100 percent of myself, including my physicality, to this role. I am proud of that, so I wanted to protect it.”