At the 2016 MTV Movie Awards, Ariana Grande left her "Dangerous Woman" mouse-ear mask at home and instead wore a pretty pink gown and fur shawl, looking very much like icon Marilyn Monroe. The singer even channeled the classy beauty on stage, too. Ariana Grande performed "Dangerous Woman" at the 2016 MTV Movie Awards on Saturday night for the pre-taped awards show. But there was a guest playing piano with Grande: she sang a stripped-down version of her latest hit track with none other than Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Jason Robert Brown (The Bridges of Madison County) on the keys. Talk about a classy performance.
Kylie Jenner and Gigi Hadid introduced the "sexy powerful" Grande, who then glided to the stage in her lovely gown. She belted all the vocal acrobatics required by "Dangerous Woman," but none of the robot voices and dramatic instruments of the original studio version of the song, showing that you don't need to be wild or twerk all over the place in order to be dangerous and thrilling. You can do you — or Marilyn Monroe, who could perhaps be considered the original "Dangerous Woman." You can watch her MTV Movie Awards performance below.
“I’m very excited to be performing a different rendition of ‘Dangerous Woman’ with one of my favorite Broadway composers on the planet,” Grande told MTV News this week. “It’s more character-y and I’m excited to just have fun, play dress-up, and do a different version of it.”
So, how does Grande know Brown? Well, they actually go way back. Brown is famous for writing and composing many Broadway musicals over the years. including Songs for a New World, The Last Five Years, and 13, the latter of which starred a then-unknown Ari as a cheerleader named Charlotte in 2009. Fast-forward seven years: Grande is now one of the biggest pop singers in the world, and Brown won two Tonys for The Bridges of Madison County, and The Last Five Years was made into a movie starring Anna Kendrick.
It's heartwarming to see even a dangerous woman like Grande keeps in touch with the people who helped start her career.
