Why Ariana Grande’s credited under her birth name for ‘Wicked’

When the Wicked film opens in theaters later in November, you’ll see Ariana Grande credited under a different name.

Ariana, who plays Glinda in the film, is credited onscreen as Ariana Grande-Butera, which is her birth name. Butera is her father’s surname; her mom’s last name is Grande. On the podcast The Streaming Service with Justin Hill, Ari explained that it was a way of marking what a full-circle moment the movie is for her.

“Technically, it’s my little girl name,” she said. “Technically it’s little Ari’s name … I just feel like this experience was such a homecoming for me.”

“You know, that was my name when I went to see [Wicked] when I was 10 years old,” she continued. “And it felt like a really lovely way of honoring that.”

So far, the reviews for Wicked, which hits theaters Nov. 22, have been magical, with some predicting Oscar nominations for Ariana and her co-star Cynthia Erivo.