More Wicked news to talk about in April? Yeah, I didn’t even expect that. Well, it’s not really Wicked news because it’s more related to The Wizard of Oz, but it does have two members from Wicked involved with this little project, so in a way, it’s both Wicked and The Wizard of Oz news. As the Her Campus at Pace Wicked correspondent, I was shocked about this news and definitely knew that I had to talk about Jeff Goldblum and Cynthia Erivo making a cover of the iconic song from The Wizard of Oz, “If I Only Had a Brain.” I also thought that this would be a good opportunity to talk about where Wicked will go from here, now that both movies are officially out for everyone to watch. So here I am, now ready to talk more about Wicked and what the future holds for this wonderful story that is loved by so many.
It all started on April 15, when Goldblum made an announcement about doing a cover with Erivo on his Instagram. He was giving his gratitude to Erivo and showing his excitement for how hard they worked on the song. One thing is for sure, even though this or the song wasn’t officially posted among the Wicked accounts, this is the first time we have really heard anything about Wicked since the release. I feel like this release of the song shows that even though there will be no more Wicked movies coming out and it may not be the main topic that everyone will be talking about, the fandom will never die and will always be something that everyone will love because of how successful and popular it became within the two years. Wicked definitely deserves all of the talk and hype, since there hasn’t been a lot of talk since award season especially since Wicked and Wicked: For Good were snubbed with awards.
When I planned to listen to the song, I expected it to be just like how it was in The Wizard of Oz, maybe with just a background sound change. What I didn’t expect that they were gonna change a lot when they did the cover to “If I Only Had a Brain.” I knew they were going to change the background music to make it more modern but didn’t think that it would be jazz music, which I think was a nice touch. I also liked how they added more parts for Erivo to sing, but not too much to ruin the song, since this song is for the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. It was an interesting choice to make the song more fast paced compared to how it was in the movie. I guess their approach to do a cover of the song was to make it more modern since The Wizard of Oz came out in 1939. In all honesty, I should have known they would have changed up the song completely so that it didn’t give the same exact song.
I do like how they made the song unique with these changes. The only thing I do question is why they made it more fast-paced, because I feel like the song does work better when it’s slow-paced. I also feel like they could have waited to release the song in December because if I’m being completely honest here, the way they did this cover is giving Christmas vibes. There are a lot of songs where people make it sound kind of Christmas-y and wait to release it in December. I feel like if they waited, people would listen to it more especially since both Wicked and Wicked: For Good came out around the holidays. And if they did that, that could be a way to celebrate Wicked’s success. This is not me hating how they did the song because it was a nice listen and I enjoyed that they didn’t copy and paste from the original. I just think if they marketed and approached it a little differently and better, then it would have been great.
Overall, I really did enjoy that we got to get a cover of a song from The Wizard of Oz and that Wicked is still being talked about. I hope this is a sign showing that we can get a lot more work from Wicked like more covers of the songs from The Wizard of Oz, Wicked, and Wicked: For Good, more books like the Galinda: A Charmed Childhood that Gregory Maguire is writing. I love that so many people are appreciating both The Wizard of Oz and Wicked as much as I always have because now we can get some much more from both films in the future. This comes to show that no matter what critics and haters could say about Wicked, the fandom will always be strong and Wicked will always be talked about. I honestly thought we weren’t going to get anything special from Wicked until the 10th anniversary of it being released, but I couldn’t be more happy that we are still getting work from it. Yes, I know Wicked: For Good wasn’t my favorite and that I have some complaints about this cover, but this doesn’t mean that I am a hater or stopped being a fan of all of the work from the films, which is why I am here today, still talking about Wicked and my love for it. But don’t take my word for it, go back to the land of Oz again, listen to the song itself and use your brain to see if you think the song is wonderful.