Saturday Night Live is celebrating its 50th season and opened the iconic milestone with SNL-fan favorite guest Ariana Grande hosting for her third time.
A majority of critics and judges (aka, the internet)—have reached a verdict: Ariana absolutely nailed it. Again.
Grande has shown her her incredible ability to impersonate various musicians style and vocals with spot-on precision. The singer and Wicked star delivered multiple incredible sketches that have since gone viral, including one sketch that has already become the official SNL TikTok’s most viewed video, nearly tripling the views of the runner-up.
Let’s dive into Ariana’s legendary SNL performance.
Grande’s Opening Monologue
Grande wowed fans with her opening monologue, delivering a Broadway-style song that playfully contradicted her own statements made earlier.
In it, Grande outlined all the things she wouldn’t be doing—only to surprise everyone by doing them anyway. Despite claiming she wouldn’t sing, the powerhouse vocalist showcases her talent multiple times throughout the night.
Grande wore a pink dress as she sang and promoted her upcoming movie, Wicked. Despite its upcoming release date of November 21, 2024, there were no sketches related to Wicked.
The general consensus in internet forums is that this is one of Grande’s best performances, one of SNL‘s most clever opening monologues. Viewers applauded Grande delivering her lines with perfect comedic timing.
Although she sang beautifully, her performance wasn’t over the top; instead, it perfectly complemented the larger joke.
Grande Impersonates Celine Dion
Ariana Grande is for her spot-on celebrity impressions, dating back to her Nickelodeon days.
On SNL, she did an impression of Celine Dion, leaving fans stunned and impressed. It wasn’t just the accent that blew fans away, but also her singing.
In the sketch, Ariana impersonates Celine Dion, delivering a comedic song about UFC fighting as if it were her favorite sport, showcasing vocals that closely mirrored Dion’s style.
While Grande has impressed audiences with her many spot-on impressions in the past, her Celine impersonation sparked debates among fans about its accuracy. At the same time, the skit prompted many to realize they weren’t quite sure how Celine Dion sounded when she spoke.
Those who have heard Celine Dion speak could gauge the accuracy of Ariana’s impression. In addition to perfectly mimicking Dion’s speaking and singing voice, Grande expertly captured her facial expressions as well, resulting in a genuinely uncanny performance. The YouTube clip of this sketch has amassed nearly 2 million views since it was posted on October 12.
The Espresso Parody
The most viral sketch of the night has to be the parody of Sabrina Carpenter’s song Espresso. The sketch followed bridesmaids at a wedding reception singing a parody version of Espresso, telling the story of the bachelorette party the previous night.
The song humorously narrated the tale of a bride cheating on her soon-to-be husband with a man named Domingo, cleverly substituting his name for “espresso.”
The comedic twist included the off-key singing of the bridesmaids, with Grande intentionally hitting the wrong notes to enhance the sketch’s humor.
The song and performance quickly went viral, captivating audiences who found the parody just as catchy as the original.
Even Sabrina Carpenter joined in on the fun, sharing the sketch on her Instagram story.
Is Grande the Best SNL Guest Host?
She’s definitely in the running. Since the premier, NBC’s social media views across platforms have amassed over 150 million views. The bridesmaid skit alone has clocked over 100 million views on NBC’s official SNL TikTok, marking the network’s most successful post on the platform by nearly triple the views (101.7 million) of the second most-viewed clip, Yeet (36.7 million views).
Ariana Grande’s SNL performance left some audiences wanting Grande to join the regular cast, as many praised her impeccable comedic timing and acting skills. The episode quickly went viral, raising the bar for the rest of the season and showcasing her undeniable talent in both music and comedy.
This article reflects publicly available information, and the author’s interpretations are based on those sources. Trendy Matters has no affiliation with any brand or person mentioned in this article, which is for informational purposes only.
