Usually, what happens inside the Met Gala stays at the Met Gala. Thanks to Anna Wintour’s famously strict rules about photographs inside the event, the public doesn’t see much of what goes on at the actual party beyond the occasional bathroom selfie. But this year, a surprising amount of footage has emerged from inside the museum, and it all appears to revolve around a performance by Ariana Grande.
Based on Vogue’s own photos and a bunch of videos Grande posted on her TikTok account, it seems like recordings were momentarily allowed while the pop star was carried in by some sprites and deposited in front of the Temple of Dendur to sing a medley. She opened with “Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping Beauty (once a Disney adult, always a Disney adult); moved into a few of her own songs, including “Into You,” “Seven Rings,” “Yes, And?,” and “We Can’t Be Friends”; and brought her Wicked co-star Cynthia Erivo onstage to close it out with a duet of “When You Believe.”
@arianagrande 🫧once upon a dream…🦪 ♡ @Vogue
♬ original sound - arianagrande
@arianagrande 🥹🫧 had the honor and most special time performing at @metmuseum in @maisonmargiela by the one and only, most brilliant angel of all @jgalliano (how i wept in our fitting !!!!)… working on this performance was an experience i will cherish forever. thank you so much @voguemagazine, Anna Wintour and @metmuseum for having me. ♡ my sincerest of thank yous to @bazluhrmann, i love you so much i could cry… to Michael Arden, @_natural__, @sergiokletnoy, Keith!!!, @justinlevine, to Cree & Lauren & @willloftis & our incredible group of dancers, musicians and to Broadway Inspirational Voices. and last but most ~certainly~🫧 not least, thank you to the divine and magical @cynthiaerivo for joining me in the end and for lighting up the museum brighter than any star in the sky ever could. it was my honor to have you and to sing with you as always. i love you ! 🫧 ⋆｡°‧🫧 ⋆ ˚｡⋆🦪 ⋆ ‧🫧 ˚｡𓇼.˚
♬ original sound - arianagrande
@arianagrande 💚🫧♾️ @Vogue ♡
♬ original sound - arianagrande
Thanks to Erivo’s presence — and also the glaringly green hue of Grande’s bespoke Margiela dress — it feels fair to assume this performance has something to do with the Wicked movie’s marathon press tour, which kicked off at the Oscars a good nine months ahead of the movie’s November release. It seems Wintour and her beloved Met Gala privacy are no match for this powerful publicity campaign — or the gala’s security guards were really slacking off.