Grande was the musical guest on Saturday and performed two songs off her new album ‘Eternal Sunshine’

Ariana Grande poses backstage at ‘Saturday Night Live’ in photos shared by BFF Liz Gillies. PHOTO: ELIZABETH GILLIES/INSTAGRAM

Ariana Grande had the full support of some of her besties as she returned to the Saturday Night Live stage over the weekend.

The singer’s longtime friend and fellow Victorious alum Liz Gillies was with her backstage and in the lead-up to her two performances on Saturday’s show and shared some behind-the-scenes photos of Grande, 30, on Instagram.

Gillies, 30, wrote that she is “endlessly proud” of the singer, who was the night’s musical guest, as she wrote in the post’s caption, “Love you so much, my brilliant, beautiful friend☀️.”

In quite a few of the photos Gillies shared, Grande is dressed in the blue blouse and khaki trousers she wore for one of the skits she appeared in, the “People Pleaser Support Group,” which she starred in alongside the show’s host, Josh Brolin, and her Wicked costar Bowen Yang, among other SNL cast members.

In the photos, Grande reviewed a script while relaxing in her dressing room, and in one shot, Yang, 33, was featured as the two chatted in the dressing room before the show. 

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Bowen Yang and Ariana Grande talk backstage before a skit on ‘Saturday Night Live’. ELIZABETH GILLIES/INSTAGRAM

Gillies also shared a photo of Grande during a rehearsal for her first performance of the night. She sang “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” from her new album, Eternal Sunshine, which dropped Friday. Later in the show, she sang “imperfect for you” from the record, and Gillies shared a stunning shot of Grande in her dressing room in the tan-colored mesh dress she wore for the second performance. 

The “yes, and?” singer reposted several of the photos on her Instagram Story and commented on the post, “i love you so so much my brilliant best friend.”

Liz Gillies shares behind-the-scenes photos of Ariana Grande’s performance on ‘Saturday Night Live’. ELIZABETH GILLIES/INSTAGRAM

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She also shared two posts filled with photos of her own from SNL in a two-part “thank you” post. In one shot, she shared a sweet moment backstage with her mom, Joan Grande, ahead of her performance of “imperfect for you,” which Joan introduced. Ariana also shared some photos with Yang, with whom she also starred alongside in a hilarious Moulin Rouge skit. 

In the skit, they performed a parody of the 2001 film’s famous “Elephant Love Medley,” which was originally sung by Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman‘s characters in the Baz Luhrmann film. In the SNL version, a few completely unrelated songs were thrown into the mix — ranging from “Happy Birthday” to “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” and Julie Andrews’ “Do-Re-Mi.”

Ariana Grande poses backstage at ‘Saturday Night Live’. ARIANA GRANDE/INSTAGRAM

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Grande’s song selection for her first appearance on SNL in eight years is consistent with the tracks she identified as her favorites from her 13-track album. In an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, Grande named both “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” and “imperfect for you” as among her favorite tracks. She also included the titular track, “eternal sunshine,” an ode to the 2004 film starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet.

“I think the movie is so beloved because so many people can relate to knowing that something isn’t right, but loving so much, and wanting to stay, and wanting to figure it out, and that cycle that can happen in the film,” she told Lowe of how Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind inspired her. “It’s because so many people can relate to it, and I think it kind of fell into place that these songs had little tidbits of that theme. I just felt really inspired by it.”