Ariana Grande: US popstar hits out after video of 'The Boy Is Mine' singer switching to higher-pitch voice goes viral

The ‘yes, and?’ singer was appearing on the Podcrushed podcast, hosted by You and Gossip Girl actor Penn Badgley, when she began to speak with a higher-pitched voice midway through a sentence. A clip of the moment went viral on social media, with one X post, which gained more than 17 million views, saying: “Regular Ariana was coming out for a second”.

The singer has now set the record straight, telling fans that she regularly switches her voice to a higher or lower pitch to protect it. Commenting on a TikTok post of the moment, she said: "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. i've always done this BYE." Grande may have been “speaking like this for two years” after she was cast in the movie adaptation of the Broadway hit musical Wicked. In the film, which is due to be released this winter, she plays Glinda, a character that traditionally uses a very high-pitched voice throughout the production.

During the podcast appearance, she also teased new music to fans following the release of her album ‘Eternal Sunshine’ in March, saying: “I went to the studio the day after the Met (Gala) and stayed for like 10 days and I was literally living there, I’ve been writing a lot, and maybe there’s more. I would like to do a deluxe at some point.”

Grande also revealed on Instagram that a remix of her hit track ‘The Boy Is Mine’ is due to be released on Friday (June 21). The new version will feature Brandy and Monica, who skyrocketed the original version to fame in 1998.