Music

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo channel Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston with ‘When You Believe’ at Met Gala

Our new Glinda and Elphaba serenaded Met Gala guests with the “Prince of Egypt” tune written by “Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz.

By Wesley Stenzel

Published on May 7, 2024 05:46PM EDT

Something wicked this way comes.

At the 2024 Met Gala on Monday, Wicked costars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo serenaded guests with a rendition of “When You Believe,” the legendary duet popularized by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo perform onstage during The 2024 Met Gala Celebrating "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2024 in New York City — Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo at the Met Gala 2024.
Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty

Grande’s show-stopping performance (it literally closed out the event) began with other performers carrying the singer across the room to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur, where she broke into “Into You” from 2016’s Dangerous Woman. Grande also performed “Yes, And?” and "We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” from her new album Eternal Sunshine, as well as “7 Rings” from Thank U, Next.

Grande shouted out Erivo in one of her social media captions: “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 !”

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Singers Mariah Carey (L) and Whitney Houston perform "When You Believe" during the 71st Academy Awards 21 March 1999 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. — Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty

“When You Believe” was written by Wicked songwriter Stephen Schwartz for the 1998 animated movie The Prince of Egypt, which tells the story of Moses from the biblical book of Exodus. In the film, Tzipporah (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Miriam (Sally Dworsky) perform the song, while the Carey and Houston version plays over the closing credits (and later became a radio hit).

The song ultimately won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1999, beating out the likes of Diane Warren (for Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” from Armageddon) and Randy Newman (for Babe: Pig in the City’s “That’ll Do”).

Erivo and Grande star in the two-part adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Wicked from director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights, Step Up). In the Wizard of Oz prequel, Erivo plays Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West originated by Idina Menzel on stage, while Grande portrays Glinda, the “good witch” first played by Kristin Chenoweth on Broadway.