Ariana Grande shared that her forthcoming Eternal Sunshine tour could be her “last hurrah”, at least for a “long, long, long, long, long time”.
In August, the “7 Rings” singer announced her first live shows since 2019. The plan is for her to perform across the US and Canada in June and August 2026, followed by a 10-show residency at The O2 in London.
Appearing on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast, Grande talked about how she felt her career had shaped up and why the 2026 tour might be the last for a while.
“I think I just am feeling a lot more connected to myself and my art since I started doing different things,” she said.
“I think, you know, I spent so much time only doing pop music, but I grew up as a girl who loved musical theatre and comedy.”
The “Touch It” singer started out in 2009 as an actor in Nickelodeon’s Victorious and released her debut album in 2013.
In 2021, she was cast as Glinda in John M Chu’s Wicked, opposite Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba.
Grande was nominated for the best supporting actress award at the Oscars as well as the Baftas for her performance, and she reprised the role in the film’s sequel, Wicked: For Good, which was released on 21 November.
“Like, I am doing a movie right now because it’s a role that I read the script and I love it and it’s funny and I love the cast and I'm so excited,” she said. “And then I’m going to do a small stint of shows next year because that is something that authentically sounded good to me.”
Grande did not mention the film she was talking about but she wrapped up shooting for the fourth instalment in the Meet the Parents franchise, Focker-in-Law, in November.
The singer explained that she had no plan yet to follow the Eternal Sunshine tour with any live shows.
“I feel very privileged and grateful to have learned that there can be room for different creative endeavours. I think the last 10 or 15 years will look very different to the ones that are coming up,” she said.
“And I don’t want to say any definitive things; I do know that I’m very excited to do this small tour, but I think it might not happen again for a long, long, long, long time. So, I’m going to give it my all and it’s going to be beautiful and I’m so grateful that I think that’s why I’m doing it because I’m like ‘One last hurrah!’ For now.”
Earlier this year, Grande reassured fans she wasn’t quitting music to focus on acting. “Very silly of you all to assume that just because I have my hands full with many things that I plan to abandon singing & music! It is and has always been my lifeline. There will need to be room made for all of it,” she said on social media.
The name of Grande’s seventh studio album, described by her as a “concept album”, and its heartbreak themes as well as the music video for “We Can’t Be Friends” are loosely inspired by the 2004 science fiction romance film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, the film follows a couple who break up and decide to erase each other from their memories by way of a medical procedure.
