Ariana Grande’s ‘SNL’ Snafus Mar Otherwise Brilliant Performance
Ariana Grande may receive high marks for her stint hosting and serving as the vocal act on Saturday Night Live, but it was the artist’s miscues that dominated the headlines following her return to the iconic show.
The foul-ups started at the beginning, NBC reported, as Ariana slipped in an unexpected profanity during her opening SNL monologue skit. In a song mocking how her childhood fame as a Nickelodeon starlet continues to be the perception of the artist, Grande laughably sang “What Will My Scandal Be” in order to show her crossover into adulthood. Intentional or not, the curse — which occurs around the 3:00 mark in the video — may actually have given her a small adult scandal at SNL‘s expense.
Host Ariana Grande dropped some unexpected profanity on last night's #SNL https://t.co/DjbCG8AC1O pic.twitter.com/0LBp8T5NYZ
— Variety (@Variety) March 13, 2016
Ariana isn’t the first talent to use a curse word on SNL. Cheri Oteri — a SNL regular from the 1990s — used the same phrase while in character. While Oteri recovered from the miscue, another show featured player — Jenny Slate — did not when she dropped the F-bomb in her debut on the program in September 2009. Slate was later dropped from SNL as a regular contributor.
Grande had another cringe-worthy moment when she performed her new single “Dangerous Woman” on SNL. Larry David — who has played Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders throughout this season — attempted to announce her as the upcoming vocal act. However, David tripped over her name, smacking at the wind in cheerful disgust that he could not pronounce Grande correctly.
As if that wasn’t enough, Ariana had several viewers confused by her wardrobe malfunction during her musical performance, Us Weekly reported early Sunday. Grande starts the song wearing a loosely fit dress jacket. But in the song’s opening seconds, Ariana allows the jacket to fall off her left shoulder. Instead of ditching the jacket, Grande continues to wear it on her right arm only. Even after attempting to fix it during an instrumental portion of the song, Grande still could not manage to put the jacket on fully.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgYm8cZXOU8
While slip-ups may have marred her SNL outing, Grande made up for that with her strong vocal talent. While the opening monologue may have held a few more profane lyrics than expected, Ariana nailed the song and hit the notes fans expect the “Love Me Harder” singer to reach. Both of the songs Ariana chose to sing on SNL — “Dangerous Woman” and “Be Alright” — were versions Grande delivered with her impeccable style and grace.
If not for the miscues, SNL viewers and the internet as a whole would be watching Ariana Grande perform flawlessly in one skit as an intern at Tidal. When the system goes down, Ariana leaps into action, covering Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, Shakira, and even Rhianna effortlessly.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BC4cfp0MNIh/?taken-by=nbcsnl
USA Today agreed with the sentiment that Ariana slayed her vocals on SNL. “Grande, who performed a number of songs in different genres, was a fantastic host and musical guest who showcased her flawless vocals.”
Entertainment Weekly expanded upon their praise for Ariana. While serving as either the host or the musical talent on SNL is daunting, doing both makes the job all the more difficult.
“But a host pulling double duty as musical guest faces even more expectations, especially one who has transitioned from acting to mostly performing. But when Ariana Grande took to the stage of Studio 8H, the question of how well she’d contribute was quickly answered from the monologue on, as the ‘Dangerous Woman’ singer not only nailed her musical performances, but also shone as the best part of some of the night’s sketches.”
What do you think about the SNL performances Ariana Grande gave? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
[Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images]
