Ariana Grandeis opening up about her emotional new album.
The pop star appears onthe cover ofThe Fader’s upcoming summer music issue, and in the magazine, she talks new tunes, bonding with fans and life after theManchester bombing.
“I’ve never been this vulnerable to myself. I feel like I graduated almost. I feel like for a long time the songs were great, but they weren’t songs that made me feel something the way these songs do,” says Grande, 24, who in April released “No Tears Left to Cry,” her first single off her fourth LP,Sweetener, due July 20.
Jason Nocito
“I’ve always just been like a shiny, singing, 5-6-7- 8, sexy-dance … sexy thing. But now it’s like, ‘OK … issa bop — but issa message. Issa bop but also has chunks of my soul in it. Here you go,” Grande added. “Also, I cried 10 hundred times in the session writing it for you. Here is my bleeding heart, and here is a trap beat behind it.’ There’s definitely some crying-on the-dancefloor stuff on this one.”
Sweetenerwill be the first album Grande has released since a bomberkilled 22 peopleand injured more than 500 at the singer’s Manchester show of her Dangerous Woman Tour in May 22, 2017.
“I guess I thought with time, and therapy, and writing, and pouring my heart out, and talking to my friends and family that it would be easier to talk about, but it’s still so hard to find the words,” she said of her difficulty to move on from the attack.
The singer said her relationship with her fans has helped her cope with the tragedy.
“The thing that makes me feel okay with opening up and finally allowing myself to be vulnerable is that I know [my fans] feel the same feelings. I’ve talked to them about it,” she said.
Grande added: “I have fans that have become friends of mine. I have their numbers, and we talk all the time. I played [the song] for them before I played it for my label. They were like, ‘Thank you,’ when they heard that one. It was so scary to do that, but to see them be like, ‘I get it, I feel that too’…”
Kevin Mazur/One Love Manchester/Getty
The Grammy-nominated star also touched on how her perspective has changed recently.
The FADER/Jason Nocito
RELATED VIDEO:Ariana GrandeandPete DavidsonAre Seeing Each Other: ‘It’s Very Casual,’ Says Source
Indeed, Grande has recently weathered changes in her personal life, as well. Earlier this month, PEOPLE confirmed she and rapper Mac Miller, 26, had recently amicablysplit. Then last week, PEOPLE confirmed that the singer recentlybegan seeingSNLstar Pete Davidson, also 24.
“Ariana and Mac officially broke up right afterCoachella weekend, but they ultimately struggled for a long time with their relationship, and it was basically over last year,” a source told PEOPLE, adding her relationship with Davidson “just started” and “it’s very casual.”
source: people.com
