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Vocal coach Eric Vetro greatly enjoyed working with his longtime client Ariana Grande on Wicked: For Good.
Grande, 32, stars as Glinda in the blockbuster sequel film, which hit theaters on Friday, Nov. 21, and the Grammy winner worked with Vetro, 69, on its music — including the titular track, “For Good,” a duet between her character and Elphaba, played by Cynthia Erivo, about their friendship.
Working on that song in particular tugged on Vetro’s heartstrings throughout their rehearsal process. “So many people have at least one person, if not several people in their life, they feel that way about,” he tells PEOPLE. “For me, when Ariana would sing it, it would make me emotional because that’s how I feel about her.”
Vetro started working with Grande since before her Broadway debut in 13: The Musical as a teenager, and the lyrics of “For Good” — “Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed for good” — reminded him of their lasting connection.
“I feel changed for good from her,” he says. “Working with her really changed me in a lot of ways, in a really great way.”
He even got emotional watching Grande and Erivo, 38, sing “For Good” on the big screen — years after they worked on the music together. “I feel like I learned a lot from her about kindness, about really caring about people,” explains Vetro. “She really sees people.”
Grande may be a global superstar with chart-topping hits and more under her belt, but Vetro gets to witness a side of the “Supernatural” singer the public may not always see.
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“At one point she called me one day, and she said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘Oh, I’m starting to pack up my music room. I’m going to redo it, so I have to move all the music and all the books and everything out.’ And she said, ‘Do you want me to come over? I’ll help you pack it up,'” he recalls. “How many people would say that?”
Vetro politely declined her help at the time, but she kept trying. “She was so sincere about it. She was like, ‘Really, I’m good at that kind of thing. I can help you organize it.’ And I just thought that explains her in a nutshell what type of human being she is,” he adds.
While the first Wicked film’s music was faithful to the original Broadway musical, composer Stephen Schwartz wrote two new songs for the sequel, including “The Girl in the Bubble,” which Grande performs as Glinda.
According to Vetro, Grande was “so excited” about the new material. “She loved the song,” he says, recalling her passion for taking on the part of Glinda in the first place. “Everything in her mind was always, ‘I want to honor this material the best I can,’ because she felt so much gratitude.”
“She worked really hard at it. She never took any of it lightly, never took any of it for granted,” explains Vetro. “With her, everything in front of her is important, and she wants to honor it and do a really great job. That’s one of the things that makes her so great to work with.”
