Ariana Grande is officially stepping back from her music career — at least for the foreseeable future. The pop superstar, 32, revealed during an appearance on Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang” podcast on Tuesday that she plans to pause recording and touring after the release of Wicked: For Good and her upcoming 41-show Eternal Sunshine Tour next year.

“The last 10 or 15 years will look very different from the ones that are coming up,” Grande shared, adding that she did not want to make “anything definitive” about her long-term future in pop. Her comments come after a decade of nonstop success, six No. 1 albums, and more than 90 billion streams worldwide (Billboard).

Grande emphasized that while she is excited for the tour supporting her 2024 album Eternal Sunshine, the run itself may symbolize the end of an era for her. “I’m very excited to do this small tour, but I think it might not happen again for a long, long, long, long, long time,” she continued. “I’m going to give it my all… one last hurrah.”

Set to begin June 6, 2026, in Oakland, California, and conclude at London’s O2 Arena on September 1, 2026, the tour marks her first series of concerts since 2019’s Sweetener World Tour — which grossed over $146 million globally (Variety).

Though she told The New York Times earlier this month that “music will be in my life forever,” Grande now admits her forthcoming hiatus is tied to her growing focus on acting. “I spent so much time only doing pop music,” she explained. “But I grew up as a girl who loved musical theater and comedy.”

Her performance as Glinda opposite Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba in 2024’s Wicked earned widespread critical acclaim, with outlets like The Hollywood Reporter praising her “surprising emotional depth and Broadway-ready vocals.” She will reprise the role in Wicked: For Good, hitting theaters Friday.

In recent weeks, Grande has been busy promoting the film internationally. She even made headlines when a fan aggressively rushed toward her at a premiere event in Singapore — an incident that raised questions about celebrity safety at red-carpet events (BBC News).

Beyond Wicked, Grande’s schedule is packed. She is set to appear in next month’s “Saturday Night Live” Christmas Special, and she just wrapped filming on Ben Stiller’s new comedy, “Focker-In-Law.” The film — a sequel in the Meet the Parents franchise — casts her as Olivia Jones, the “ball-busting” fiancée at the center of a new family disaster.

Grande described bonding with her legendary co-star Robert De Niro through unexpected fitness training. “I spent yesterday doing burpees and high knees with Robert De Niro,” she joked. “I’m like, ‘What is this movie? What are we doing?’ But I’m having a blast. It’s really special.”

The former Nickelodeon star is also set to appear in Season 13 of “American Horror Story,” premiering next Halloween. FX executives hinted the season will lean into psychological horror with “a surreal, fairytale-inflected tone” (Rolling Stone).

Despite her packed slate, Grande suggested her upcoming creative chapter will be defined not by commercial output but by artistic instinct. “The thing that will be best for my soul and also for my art is chasing things that feel very right in the moment — even if they’re spontaneous or different,” she said.

For fans, that means the Eternal Sunshine Tour — and Wicked: For Good — may be the last chance for a while to see her in full pop-star mode. But Grande insists she isn’t leaving music forever. She’s simply choosing, for the first time, to give herself room to grow. “Music will always be there,” she said. “But right now, this feels like the right path.”