Ariana Grande Reflects on Life After the Manchester Bombing
Ariana Grande is sharing her thoughts following the horrific bombing at her concert last May 2017 in Manchester, England.
The 24-year-old “No Tears Left To Cry” singer and her manager Scooter Braun opened up in a new interview for Time. Here’s what they had to share with the mag:
Scooter on visiting Ariana at her grandmother’s home in Boca Raton, Fla., after the attack, when he asked her to do something he knew at the time was unfair: “I said, ‘We need to get a concert and get back out there.’ She looked at me like I was insane. She said, ‘I can never sing these songs again. I can’t put on these outfits. Don’t put me in this position.’”
Two days later, Ariana texted him, “Call me. I need to speak to you. … If I don’t do something, these people died in vain.” That’s when they decided to put on the One Love Manchester benefit concert.
Ariana on processing the events: “There are so many people who have suffered such loss and pain. The processing part is going to take forever. I don’t want to give [the attack] that much power. Something so negative. It’s the absolute worst of humanity. That’s why I did my best to react the way I did. The last thing I would ever want is for my fans to see something like that happen and think it won.”
“Music is supposed to be the safest thing in the world. I think that’s why it’s still so heavy on my heart every single day. I wish there was more that I could fix. You think with time it’ll become easier to talk about. Or you’ll make peace with it. But every day I wait for that peace to come and it’s still very painful.”
On naming her new album Sweetener: “When you’re handed a challenge, instead of sitting there and complaining about it, why not try to make something beautiful?”
For more from Ariana, visit Time.com.