Ariana Grande has explained several times why she modeled Eternal Sunshine as something of a concept album inspired by the Jim Carrey- and Kate Winslet-led film, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. Grande’s lifelong affinity for Jim Carrey is well-documented, and now, the two-time Grammy winner shared another particularly interesting adolescent interest while visiting Podcrushed.
Just before the 30-minute mark of the Podcrushed episode, Penn Badgley joked about Grande’s casting of Evan Peters and Badgley in her videos for “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)” and “The Boy Is Mine,” respectively.
“Is it a serial killer tour?” Badgley said, while Grande giggled.
Peters portrayed Jeffrey Dahmer in Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, and Badgley became the internet’s favorite stalker — if such a thing exists — as Joe in You.
Grande acknowledged she “knew someone was gonna say this.”
She continued, “I knew [everyone] was gonna be like, ‘Why the f*ck? What is this pattern? Do we need to talk about this pattern here?’ Um, maybe there’s something to look at. No, I’m kidding. […] No, but I was infatuated with serial killers when I was younger.”
That’s not all. Grande then shared a story to back up her alleged adolescent infatuation.
“Years ago, before the Dahmer series, I was in a Q&A with fans — young fans,” she said. “It was young fans at the time. I think it was in between me being Cat [on Victorious] and pop stuff, so it was a younger group. With a parent, someone said, ‘If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, you’re so cute. Mom and Dad, is it okay if I give the real answer?’ And they were like, ‘Sure, I guess. What’s the answer?’ And I was like, ‘Um, I mean, Jeffrey Dahmer’s pretty fascinating. I think I would have loved to have met him. Like, you know, maybe with a third party or someone involved, but I have questions.’ And the parents were like, ‘We’ll explain it later, sweetheart.’ And I was like, ‘I’ll just sing ‘Problem’ and go home.’”
Elsewhere in Grande’s two-part Podcrushed interview, she further discussed casting Badgley in “The Boy Is Mine,” whether she’ll release an Eternal Sunshine deluxe album, her process for filming Wicked, and more.
Watch the full Podcrushed episodes below.