Ariana Grande delivered the debut TV performance of her new single “Imagine” with assistance from the Roots on Tuesday’s The Tonight Show.
Draped in a red Christmas sweater, Grande gave her sultry ballad a brassy reworking as the Roots helped transform the single into a bluesy rave-up. Grande also wowed the Tonight Show crowd by impeccably replicating the whistle tones that the singer unleashes on the studio version in a live setting.
Grande tweeted after the performance, “love u @jimmyfallon @FallonTonight every time is always the best time of my life miss u already and thank u so so much. also, i love u sm @theroots.”
Earlier in the episode, Grande lent some star power to an unexpected Saturday Night Live reunion between Fallon, Horatio Sanz, Tracy Morgan and Chris Kattan, with the former cast members performing “I Wish It Was a Christmas Today,” an SNL holiday staple from the early 2000s.