As a child, I escaped into the realm of fairytales. They weren’t just stories — they were sanctuaries, bright little rooms where my imagination could breathe. And the marvelous land of Oz was where I felt most at home. I read L. Frank Baum’s original twelve books so often that the characters blurred into something like family, their adventures echoing in my mind long after I closed the covers.

So when Wicked first entered my world, it felt like discovering a hidden passageway in a house I’d lived in my whole life — a new door swinging open into wonder.

Gregory Maguire took the ultimate anti-heroine and recast her as one of modern literature’s most intriguing figures: Elphaba Thropp, the green girl who carried the weight of an entire world’s misunderstanding. And then, during my college years, Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman transformed her story into one of the most beloved musicals ever written.

By 2024, Jon M. Chu somehow spun that musical into a film just as dazzling and heartfelt — a work as magical as the show and as pointed and political as the book. And now, with the release of Wicked: For Good, the witches of Oz seem to be stepping into the final chapter of this long, emerald-lit journey… at least for now.

The soundtrack opens with ｢Every Day More Wicked｣, where Michelle Yeoh ushers us back into Oz as the iniquitous Madam Morrible. She’s admitted she’s not a singer, but here she’s deliciously devilish — a velvet-voiced menace you adore hating. I couldn’t imagine anyone else delivering that particular brand of wicked warmth.

Her introduction contrasts sharply with the emotional radiance of ｢Thank Goodness / I Couldn’t Be Happier｣. No shade to Kristin, Megan, or the many marvelous Glindas who’ve floated down in bubbles before, but Ariana Grande brings a duality that feels newly vulnerable — a shimmer of humor braided with the ache of someone trying very hard to smile through the sting. She’s luminous. She’s tender. She’s magic.

Then comes ｢No Place Like Home｣ — one of the soundtrack’s new treasures — where Cynthia Erivo shines like the queen of gravity-defiance she is. The song recalls the soulful glow of Charlie Smalls’ ｢Home｣ from The Wiz: where Home rises triumphantly, No Place Like Home circles inward, reminding us that sometimes the truest home is the truth we finally stop running from.

For me, though, the heart of the album lives inside ｢As Long as You’re Mine｣, always my favorite moment from the musical. Here, it pulses with twilight intimacy. There’s a gentleness in Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey’s delivery — a vulnerability that feels almost sacred. No shade to the legends who’ve sung it before, but this recording… this is the one.

｢The Girl in the Bubble｣ — another film-specific addition — is the album’s most theatrical flourish. It sparkles with narrative wit, balancing levity and longing with soft precision. Hearing Glinda’s loneliness sung with such sweetness feels unexpectedly comforting, as if the bubble were finally letting the light in. Grande was simply born for this role.

Nestled among these emotional arc-lights is ｢The Witch of the East｣. Marissa Bode is wonderful, but the song feels more like a whispered letter from the story’s edges than one of its centerpieces. Still, I’m grateful it’s finally available for fans — a long-missing puzzle piece now snapped lovingly into place.

Altogether, Wicked: For Good is a rich companion to the film — a soundtrack that rounds out Part One with resonance, delight, and more than a few heart-tugging crescendos.

And now?

I can’t wait to see the film.