‘I Have Names For Them’

While sitting down with Evan Ross Katz for his podcast Shut Up Evan, Katz enlisted some help from some famous friends to ask Ariana a few hard hitting questions as she begins her press tour for Wicked: For Good.

Singer Hayley Williams of Paramore was one of them, as she wondered how Ariana deals with self-doubt and the “monsters” in her head, especially when thinking about going to a new project.

“I think I’m really attracted to things that scare me a little bit,” Ariana replied to the recorded voice message.

“Like the idea of doing a tour that terrified me and also the idea of chasing Wicked terrified me because I wanted it so much and I wanted to earn it,” she recalled.

“I was terrified to put my album out, every time,” she said before adding that her most recent Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead was initially only shared with her best friends.

However, in Grande’s eyes the fear is a good thing because it means “you’re making something where your heart is on your sleeve.”

As for the monsters in her head, she has learned to deal with them in a positive way.

“I tried to learn from them that’s something I’ve spent a lot of time unpacking with my acting coach Nancy [Banks],” Grancde revealed.

“They’re really informative, there’s always something to learn from those guys. But when it comes to showing up on set on a day when you’re trying to get the work done, or when it comes to the audition you have to kind of ask them to leave … I think I have reached a place with my monsters where I appreciate them,” she explained.

She continued: “Because I know they’re trying to protect me from disappointment from more hurt, from more whatever, but they’re not productive for me as an artist.”

The singer added that she has a “name” for her monsters and when she does need them to disappear, she does so “lovingly.”

“[I ask if] they could just get me a coffee and come back in 15, and they do I think that’s a big part of trauma work,” she said.

“That lens is really helpful when it comes to those negative voices, they’re more likely to leave the room when you ask them kindly,” she added.

A second part of Hayley’s question wondered where Ariana sees herself going next in her career.

“I think it’s going to look very different,” Ariana shared.

“I always want to be creating,” she emphasized. “I want to do theater, spend more time acting.”

As the Grammy-award winning pop star is set to star in the fourth installment of the Meet The Parents franchise, Focker In-Law, Grande shared that it “feels good for my soul” to have the balance of both acting and singing in her life.

Jennifer Coolidge didn’t go as deep for her question and wondered whether Ariana would do a “buddy movie” with Jennifer where they do “a lot of running” and are in “deep trouble.”

“I love that,” Grande exclaimed. “I would absolutely love that, how can we get that in motion? I love her so much, yes call me too,” she told Coolidge.

Sarah Jessica Parker — seemingly an inspiration to Ariana, as she was overwhelmed the Sex and the City Star even knew who Grande was — asked if being an “actor” is different to what she imagined when she was child.

“I love her… That just totally shocked me,” she said of Parker’s question. “I guess I would say it’s almost entirely different from what I thought it was going to be as a child.”

“I am sure she feels similarly. I was so focused on art and singing and laughter and comedy and performing and acting… I’m a theater kid, I’m a nerd, I’m a writer, I like to make people laugh, I like to disappear into characters. That’s what excites me the most,” she added.

However, when it came to the fame side of her world, she never considered the “negative parts” as a child.

“I feel everything… I think that’s my gift and sometimes my curse but its really weird. I don’t think I was prepared for that part,” the singer said.

She added she never thought about the red carpet or being on magazines and that it took her a long time to get to a good place with it all.

“The first 10 years out, I really struggled with what comes with it,” she revealed. “I wasn’t expecting the success piece to feel so complicated.”

Now she puts that side of success in a box to focus on creating.

“We talk about it often, it takes a lot of spiritual discernment to keep myself afloat… But I’m proud of the ways that I have been able to take the little girl’s hand and take her to the other side and do it and be healthy,” she said.