Ariana Grande is about to find out just how pop-u-lar she is.
Nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 2025 Critics Choice Awards—where she'll face off against The Piano Lesson's Danielle Deadwyler, Nickel Boys' Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, The Substance's Margaret Qualley, Conclave's Isabella Rossellini and Emilia Pérez's Zoe Saldaña—the Wicked star turned up to the Feb. 7 show at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica with the best memory she brought home from the epic production: Co-star-turned-boyfriend Ethan Slater.
While the pair—who stepped into the roles of Glinda and Boq for director Jon M. Chu's two-part opus, the first installment of which is also up for Best Acting Ensemble and Best Picture—walked the red carpet separately, the lovebirds reunited inside the ceremony where they were snapped chatting and gazing lovingly into each other's eyes while seated at ther dinner table together. (Check out all the stunning red carpet looks here.)
Grande looked stunning in a nude, high-fashion design by Christian Dior that featured a hoop skirt and fringe while her man rocked a dapper black suit. The smiling duo were beaming as they chatted during the show.
And, of course, this outing at the Critics Choice Awards—moved from its original Jan. 12 date due to the Los Angeles-area wildfires—is just one stop on Grande's Wicked victory tour.
Though the "we can't be friends" artist said thank u, next to the Grammys for the fifth year in a row Feb. 2, she joined Slater for a date night at the 2025 National Board of Review Awards gala Jan. 7, mere days after flying solo as a nominee at the Golden Globes.
The 31-year-old is also in the running for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role at the Feb. 23 Screen Actors Guild Awards and nominated alongside Rossellini, Saldaña, A Complete Unknown's Monica Barbaro and The Brutalist's Felicity Jones in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category for the 2025 Oscars.
“Picking my head up in between sobs to say thank you so much to @theacademy for this unfathomable recognition,” she wrote on Instagram following her Jan. 23 nomination. Sharing pictures of herself dressed as Wizard of Oz's Dorothy, she reflected on just how much the story and the 1939 film meant to her. “I’m humbled and deeply honored to be in such brilliant company and sharing this with tiny ari who sat and studied Judy Garland singing ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ just before the big, beautiful bubble entered."
But Grande wasn't the only one with no tears left to cry.
Honoring the moment on his own Instagram, Slater, 32, shared a series of articles about his girlfriend's shining achievement, writing, "Oscar. Nominated."
So, who's to say if the experience of fully immersing herself into Glinda's world ("i know i disappeared into this project for a long, long time," she acknowledged to fans in a November post), changed Grande for the better. But she's definitely been changed for good.
See how she—and the rest of the stars at the Critics Choice Awards—proved there's no place like the red carpet by checking out all the celebrity fashions below.
Ariana Grande
In Christian Dior
Cynthia Erivo
In Armani Privé
Angelina Jolie
In Elie Saab
Hannah Einbinder
In Louis Vuitton
Nicole Kidman
In Saint Laurent
Demi Moore
In Schiaparelli Couture
Matt Bomer
In Berluti
Zoe Saldaña
In Saint Laurent
Orlando Bloom
Leighton Meester & Adam Brody
Leighton in Christian Dior and Adam in Santoni
Michelle Yeoh
In Balenciaga
Lupita Nyong'o
In Chanel
Kate Hudson
Maren Morris
In Monique Lhuillier
Naomi Watts
In Prada and Tiffany & Co. jewelry
Rachel Brosnahan
In Miu Miu and Pomellato jewelry
Kathryn Hahn
In Oscar de la Renta
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Colin Farrell
Mikey Madison
Logan Lerman
Cristin Milioti
In Saint Laurent and Brilliant Earth jewelry
David Harbour
Jodie Foster
Jessica Gunning
Dakota Fanning
In Irene Neuwirth jewelry
Jeff Goldblum
Marissa Bode
In Maria Lucia Hohan
Ethan Slater
Harvey Guillen