Ariana Grande Teases a New Album Drop on Oscars Red Carpet: "Keep Your Eyes Peeled"

"The next step is...It means it must come out."

Ariana Grande wearing a pale pink dress blowing a kiss on the Oscars 2025 red carpet
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Ariana Grande appears to have some musical surprises up her sleeve. The Wicked star made waves at the 2025 Oscars on March 2 when she casually dropped hints about an album drop—an interesting development considering her recent comments about pivoting to theater.

When asked about the status of a deluxe edition of her 2024 album Eternal Sunshine being "in the can," Grande—dressed in a bubble-inspired pink gown covered in sparkling crystals on the red carpet—gave Variety a coy response.

"The next step is...It means it must come out," she said. The 31-year-old Grammy winner—currently nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Wicked—remained deliberately vague about timing, instead opting to reference the film that inspired her last album.

"They did the Brighter Days Memory Erasure treatment to me so I'm having trouble remembering the details," she teased, referring to the fictional clinic in the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. "They're foggy, because at the Brighter Days Clinic, they do the Memory Erasure."

Grande continued the bit, suggesting details about the upcoming project are "a little foggy," adding, "I'll have to go back to the clinic and see if they can restore my memory."

Ariana Grande wearing a pale pink dress posing on the Oscars 2025 red carpet

Grande shimmered in a pale pink Schiaparelli gown on the Oscars 2025 red carpet.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Cynthia Erivo in a white gown with floral embellishments and Ariana Grande in a red gown singing on stage at the Oscars 2025

Grande joined Wicked co-star Cynthia Erivo to open the Oscars in spectacular fashion.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

When host Marc Malkin tried to pin her down with the word "soon," Grande held firm. "So you have to learn the language of my fans because soon means 10 days or less. I'm not allowed to use that word at this moment," she explained. Malkin pressed: "So, it's not less than 10 days?"

"I'm not going to use that word today. I'll say that," Grande responded, leaving fans to decode her careful word choice. Her parting advice? "Just keep your eyes peeled...That's all I'm saying."

This subtle music tease comes less than four months after Grande revealed on the Las Culturistas podcast that her Wicked experience had shifted her professional focus from pop music toward musical theater.

"It is my heart," she said of acting. "I'm gonna say something so scary—it's gonna scare the absolute shit out of my fans and everyone, but I love them, and they'll deal, and we'll be here forever. I'm always going to make music, I'm always going to go on stage, I'm always going to do pop stuff, I pinky promise. But I don't think doing it at the rate I've been doing it for the past 10 years is where I see the next 10 years."

Kristin Contino
Senior Royal and Celebrity Editor

Kristin Contino is Marie Claire's Senior Royal and Celebrity editor. She's been covering royalty since 2018—including major moments such as the Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II’s death and King Charles III's coronation—and places a particular focus on the British Royal Family's style and what it means.

Prior to working at Marie Claire, she wrote about celebrity and royal fashion at Page Six Style and covered royalty from around the world as chief reporter at Royal Central. Kristin has provided expert commentary for outlets including the BBC, Sky News, US Weekly, the Today Show and many others.

Kristin is also the published author of two novels, “The Legacy of Us” and “A House Full of Windsor.” She's passionate about travel, history, horses, and learning everything she can about her favorite city in the world, London.