“I think we all kind of knew why I was going in, and it was for Glinda,” Grande says in a PEOPLE-exclusive clip from the ‘Wicked’ digital home release

Ariana Grande went full method on her Glinda wardrobe — off camera, before she even had the role!

In a PEOPLE-exclusive clip from the Wicked digital home release, available now, the 31-year-old actress and singer admits that she “had a little portion of my closet that was all just little pink tops and stuff, just in case” she landed the role of a lifetime.

“I was like, ‘What underwear would Glinda wear today?’ ” Grande jokes.

The two-time Grammy winner has not been shy in the past about what she has long called a dream role for her in Glinda, and says in the clip with a laugh, “I had been chasing [producer] Marc Platt down for about 10 years, wondering when this movie was going to happen, when I would have the opportunity to audition.”

“As soon as I heard that maybe in a few months they might start seeing people, I was like, ‘Great! Now’s the time I’m starting,’ ” Grande adds.

She also recalls details of her “first audition” that ultimate led to her casting in the musical film, including that she sang not only “No One Mourns the Wicked” and “Popular” but also the Elphaba-led songs “Defying Gravity” and “The Wizard and I.”

“Weirdly, strangely, I sang for both [Glinda and Elphaba],” Grande says of the roles that went to her and costar Cynthia Erivo, respectively. “I don’t know why — I think we all kind of knew why I was going in, and it was for Glinda.”

“I love Elphaba, but you know,” she quips.

Director Jon M. Chu also appears in the clip, and says he was fully aware before casting Grande that she “was publicly out there saying she always wanted this role.”

And at first, he was hesitant, explaining, “In my head, I was like, ‘We’re never giving this to Ariana Grande. That’ll take over the movie — [it’ll be] about Ariana Grande.’ “

But the filmmaker, 45, changed his tune pretty quickly once he saw what she had to offer.

“Every time she came in, she was an Ari that I’d never seen before. And every time she left, she was the most interesting person,” he adds.

Wicked is now available to purchase or rent on digital, with preorders also available for the film’s release on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD, out Feb. 4, 2025.