The singer’s Glinda blonde hair received a subtle update now that she’s in between ‘Wicked’ press cycles
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Ariana Grande‘s Glinda blonde has been a permanent fixture since filming Wicked, but the pop star took a brief break from the shade with her latest project.
The “We Can’t Be Friends” singer, 31, shared a series of behind the scene images from the filming of her short film, Brighter Days Ahead, to her Instagram on April 8.
In the photos, Grande is seen sporting a hair color a few shades darker than the Glinda blonde she has been wearing for the Wicked press cycle. Her hair, now closer to an auburn shade, was pulled up into a side-parted high ponytail that cascaded down her back.
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Hints of auburn started creeping into Grande’s hair earlier this year — for the 2025 Golden Globes in January, the actress’s Aubrey Hepburn-inspired hair was updated to a darker hue with chunky highlights by her hair colorist, Rachel Bodt, for the event.
“We went for a warm, light auburn-brown base with chunky contoured highlights to create contrast,” Bodt told InStyle. “I kept both the highlights and base colors warm so they played well with each other. Since it was a bolder look, I wanted it to feel like it went together.”
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The auburn shade, which formally enters the red family, is a far cry from the cherry color Grande used to wear on Victorious. The brighter red damaged her hair due to her getting it touched up every week; Grande later adopted her signature ponytail to give her hair a break from the damage, and wore her hair in brunette shades.
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“It’s kind of like the red was Cat [Valentine], and that was very much a character, and it was very much a portion of my life that I love and I am so grateful for,” she said in a 2020 appearance on the Zack Sang Show. “And I look at it and I love it and I see red hair…and I think fondly of that, but again, it’s not me.”
