Following the May 2017 terror attack that killed 22 people at her Manchester Arena concert, Ariana Grande said she was unsure if she would ever want to perform again. The singer returned to the stage a year later with the One Love Manchester benefit concert, but hasn’t publicly spoke about the attack in any great detail, saying that she doesn’t want to “give it that much power.”
That changed in a recent interview with Beats 1 Radio to promote her excellent new album, Sweetener. There are several tracks on the album that allude in some way to the incident, including ‘Get Well Soon‘, which Grande has said is intended as a “musical hug” for anyone experiencing trauma. After the song was played on the show, the singer broke down crying, saying of the song:
“It’s just about being there for each other and helping each other through scary times and anxiety … There’s just some dark shit out there, man. We just have to be there for each other as much as we can. You just never fucking know, y’know?”
She continued:
“I just want to do something to make people feel good and less alone. It’s not just about that. It’s also about personal demons and anxiety and more intimate tragedies as well. Mental health is so important. People don’t pay enough mind to it because we have things to do. We have schedules; we have jobs; we have kids and places to be, pressure to fit in, Instagram stories, whatever fucking facade you’re trying to put on, trying to keep up. People don’t pay attention to what’s happening inside.”
To those who might interpret her lyrics as “corny”, Ariana Grande says that it’s important for her to “give people a hug musically”, adding: “I don’t know, people gotta be nicer.” You can watch a clip from the interview below:
