Somewhere between the new album "Yours Truly" and the success on Nickelodeon's "iCarly" among other programs, people forgot that Ariana Grande had experience singing onstage as well. The vocalist had performed before in musicals such as "13," "Cuba Libre" and "A Snow White Christmas." Grande reminded the audience of her Broadway chops with some less-than-Broadway-kosher musical numbers when she appeared on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon."
Fallon appeared glammed-out, wearing a long blonde wig and coat, while Grande sat on top of his grand piano with a microphone. The duo introduced each song in the medley with a coy dialogue, Grande doing her best Judy Garland imitation.
The first song on the list was a cabaret interpretation of Jay Z's "99 Problems," with Fallon singing the verse and Grande handling the infamous hook, going full-diva and carrying the final "but a b---- ain't one." The duo then slowed things down a bit, approaching Cypress Hill's "Insane in the Brain" as a ballad. At the risk of sounding old, we must point out that the single was released four days prior to Grande's birth in 1993.
Fallon and Grande flashed-forward to a modern hit to round out the medley however, tackling Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's "Thrift Shop." Fallon provided the song's trumpet beat a cappella, and Grande rose into a crescendo during the hook. They opted not to censor the line "this is f-----g awesome," but rather played a lengthy censorship "beep" as Grande carried the note.
Turns out Grande doesn't need to tweak to bait the censors. Check out the video below and let us know in the comments what hip-hop track you would've like to have seen. Personally, we liked the Cypress Hill moment, but would've preferred the track "How I Could Just Kill A Man."
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