Yesterday marked the end of most lockdown restrictions in California and New York, so James Corden teamed up with Ariana Grande to celebrate:
For all you musical theatre fans out there, the song “No Lockdowns Anymore” was set to the tune of “Good Morning Baltimore” from Hairspray. James and Ariana were also joined by Tony Award-winning star, Marissa Jaret Winokur.
The number was super fun and catchy with lots of references many people would relate to such as zoom calls, watching Bridgerton, and dreaming of being able to go out and drunkenly get matching tattoos with friends. And it sounded great too (no surprise there though, Ariana has the voice of an angel). The obvious disconnect though would be the fact that there are people around the world who aren’t feeling that lockdown freedom quite yet, including many of us here in Canada. As fun as it was to watch this elaborate musical sequence with lyrics about finally being able to get a haircut, it felt a little off when I remembered that there are other countries around the world still in deep COVID-19 crises. The Late Late Show is set in California, though, so I understand why they’d want to mark such a pivotal moment in their home state. I also appreciated that they put a heavy emphasis on how the vaccine was the driving force behind restrictions being lifted. It was kind of like a PSA about the importance of vaccines in the fight to end the pandemic. Slick, but effective.
Ariana Grande’s joy was radiating off of the screen too. We saw her a couple of weeks ago at the Billboard Music Awards with The Weeknd, after she got married, so I guess we can say this is part of a new era for Ari. Her yellow Versace look also gave us the heads up for a new and refreshed version of Ariana for the summer.
I’m in love with the different textures between the dress, tights, and shoes. I’ve been stocking up on matching colour sets from head-to-toe, and Ariana has only made me want to buy more. Ariana will be joining The Voice as a coach for the fall season, so I’m wondering if she will be using this summer to make big moves before her spinning chair debut.
