The 2025 Oscars opened with the incredible one-two vocal punch of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, and when you see the warm chemistry of their friendship, your heart will just melt. Grande opened the event by singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” and she really sounded like an angel on the much-loved Wizard of Oz classic. Grande is one of those pop stars who can back up her hits with jaw-dropping live vocals every day of the week and twice on Sunday, and her solo Oscars opener was no exception.
There was more to come though, as the performance segued into Erivo singing “Home” from The Wiz, with a stately backing from the orchestra. The Music Man has to say that if there’s one singer who won’t be outshined coming on after Grande, then it’s Erivo, and she knocked this out of the park. The pair saved the best for last, and closed out the performance with a duet on “Defying Gravity” from Wicked. The sweet admiring smile Grande gave Erivo as the latter sang sealed the deal, making the duet just so adorable.
Grande and Erivo opened the 97th Academy Awards with a bang on March 3, 2025. Fans loved watching the duet and added comments below the YouTube upload of their performance such as “Idina Menzel made ‘Defying Gravity’, Cynthia Erivo perfected it. I keep coming back to this video, I love her version so much” and “You can see the beautiful friendship that Ari and Cynthia have. Such respect and admiration for each other. The way Ari looks at her friend like a proud mama. I’m glad they have that.”
Given their amazing chemistry, it probably won’t surprise The Music Man readers to hear that Grande and Erivo have produced viral performances together before. The pair produced a hugely popular segment for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where they each sang cheekily about their characters from the 2024 musical film Wicked, roasting and praising each other in turn. Jeff Goldblum, who plays the Wizard in Wicked, also made a brief cameo in the video, which drew 17 million views on YouTube.
Grande and Erivo became close after they starred together in Wicked, where they played the witches Galinda Upland and Elphaba Thropp respectively. The pair spoke on Jake’s Takes about the bond they developed while filming Wicked. While holding the hand of an emotional Grande, Erivo said, “I think we found a little piece of ourselves in each other… I think I’ve gotten a little bit of her softness, and she’s got a little bit of my strength.”