Ariana Grande slams criticism over her voice

Ariana Grande has hit out at the criticism of her voice.

During an appearance on the latest episode of Evan Ross Katz's Shut Up Evan podcast, the pop star and actress addressed claims that she changes her voice to sound like her character Glinda from the upcoming Wicked movie.

"I mean you see male actors, sure people make jokes here and there as well, but it's always after the fact 'Oh wow, how dedicated to his craft! What an amazing transformation! He's a brilliant performer!'" Ariana, 31, said, referring to Hollywood's double standards.

She continued, "But then it's like, god forbid I sneeze like Glinda or something, (then) it's just that I am crazy... it's the weirdest thing."

The We Can't Be Friends hitmaker also noted that she has spent "a long time playing a character every single day," referring to her character, Glinda.

Ariana continued, "(I trained) my voice to do different things for a long time before leaving for London and before any of this; muscle memory is a real thing."

In June, Ariana received backlash for appearing to change her voice from high to low during an appearance on the Podcrushed podcast.

Shortly after a clip of her speaking on the podcast went viral, she explained in a TikTok video that she "intentionally" fluctuates her voice.

"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 said at the time. "I''ve always done this BYE."

Ariana was cast in wicked in 2021. The film is due to be released on 22 November.