Ariana Grande was incredibly emotional after completing Hairspray Live! on Wednesday.

Grande played Tracy Turnblad's (Maddie Baillio) sidekick Penny Lou Pingleton in Hairspray Live!, shining on songs like "Without Love", "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now" and "You Can't Stop the Beat". She also got to perform a special duet of "Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)" with Jennifer Hudson, who played Motormouth Maybelle in the production.

Having completed the ambitious production, Grande is feeling all kinds of bittersweet emotions. The pop star took to Instagram to explain her mixed feelings about being done with Hairspray Live!

"I don't know where to start. crying so much today. my heart is with hairspray. my heart is in Baltimore with penny lou pingleton and seaweed and tracy and Mr. & Mrs. Turnblad the motormouth kids and the nicest kids. such a bittersweet feeling," she wrote in a caption to a new photo "i can't put into words how grateful i am not only to have played one of my favorite roles in the world, or to have been lucky enough to sing the songs I grew up singing religiously in the car every day on the way to school, but to have been introduced to the most incredibly beautiful people i've ever met. I feel so blessed and so happy and so sad. But mostly, so so grateful."


Grande also shared a photo of herself with Hudson, praising not only her singing talent but her warm presence.


Reviews of Hairspray Live! were mixed on Grande's contribution, with Variety praising her as the "MVP" of the whole show, while The Hollywood Reporter called her one of the show's "disappointments." Regardless of reviews, though, the experience of Hairspray Live! clearly meant a lot to Grande, who has been on an impressive career trajectory over the past few years.

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Ariana Grande, Music, Hairspray Live