Ariana Grande used her full name for 'Wicked' because it felt like a "homecoming" to her young self

She told The Hollywood Reporter's 'Awards Chatter' podcast: "It's my birth name, and that was my name when I first saw 'Wicked' when I was a young girl.

"And I feel like this experience was such a homecoming to myself, my young me, that maybe little pieces of her got lost along the way."

She saw the credits as a way to include her "full" self in the experience.

She added: "It felt like a homecoming to her, so this felt like a beautiful celebration of that homecoming and way of including my full me."

The 'No Tears Left To Cry' hitmaker previously opened up on using the name for the credits, after podcaster and journalist Justin Hill referred to it as her "full grown-up name".

She replied: "Technically, it's my little girl name. It's technically little [Ari's] name."

Her mother Joan's last name is Grande and her father is Ed Butera, while her parents got divorced when she was eight years old.

She explained how both her own character Glinda and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) taught her a lot about herself.

She said: "I feel like I came home to myself in a lot of ways through what I learned from Glinda, from Elphaba.

"That was my name when I went to see the show when I was 10 years old, and it felt like a really lovely way of honoring that. It felt really full-circle."

The character also affected her voice, and Ariana has fired back at critics over her changing pitch.

She told the 'Smartless' podcast: "I think that might stay. Galinda required a lot of vocal work for me. Certain things maybe won't melt away.

"Some will, but I'm really grateful for the pieces that will stay with us forever... What a beautiful thing to be left with, and to feel the ghost of every day."