The 'Frozen' star recruits the '7 Rings' hitmaker for new holiday album 'Christmas: A Season of Love', while the 'Pushing Daisies' actress collaborates with the 26-year-old for her 'For the Girls' release.
- Sep 28, 2019
AceShowbiz - Ariana Grande has realised her "Wicked" dreams by recording new duets with the original stars of the Broadway musical, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth.
Idina has recruited Ariana, alongside Billy Porter and her "Frozen (2013)" co-star Josh Gad for her new holiday album "Christmas: A Season of Love", while Kristin has snagged the "7 Rings" singer for her "For The Girls" release.
Grande and Menzel have recorded an original Christmas tune, "A Hand for Mrs. Claus", which was written by "Frozen" songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, while Kristin and Ariana tackled the Lesley Gore standard "You Don't Own Me".
Chenoweth tells Billboard the track originally started out as a solo recording but then she realised Grande should be involved, because she's just like Gore, who scored a hit with the song in the early 1960s.
"I was like, 'Ariana's a lot like Lesley Gore; she could play her life...' I would love to see her in a biopic about Lesley Gore," Kristin explains. "There's something old school about Ariana, where she is this old soul".
"I actually originally recorded it as a solo, and realised I needed a partner, and thought it'd be cool to get her. I know she's busy, and she's the biggest star on the planet and I never expected her to say yes, but she did".
Meanwhile, Menzel will also honour her Jewish roots on her new holiday album, singing "Ocho Kandelikas", a Hanukkah song, in Ladino - the ancient language of Sephardic Jews.
