Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Ariana Grande recently released her comeback single No Tears Left To Cry
Ariana Grande has said she wants to "bring light" to our lives with her new album in her first interview since last year's Manchester attack.
She didn't address the bombing directly but became emotional when US TV host Jimmy Fallon discussed it.
The pop star did announce her new album Sweetener, which is due this summer.
She said it is "about bringing light to a situation, or to someone's life, or somebody else who brings light to your life, or sweetening the situation".
Speaking on Fallon's NBC talk show, the 24-year-old singer did not say any more about the inspirations behind it.
It was the host who addressed the events of last May, when 22 people died in a bombing after her concert at Manchester Arena.
She returned to the city to stage the One Love concert less than two weeks later.
Explaining that he hadn't seen the singer since that time, Fallon said: "I know it's tough for everybody, tough for fans and tough for you, and I know you haven't done any interviews, and I understand that.
"I just wanted to say thank you so much for coming on the show and for being strong and for entertaining and for showing up and going back to Manchester and doing a benefit. I thought that was awesome of you. I just think you're so strong and so cool."
Ariana started welling up and just replied: "Thanks. Thank you."
Fallon then quoted part of a message the singer wrote in the days after the attack: "We won't let hate win. Our response to this violence must be to come closer together, to help each other, to love more, to sing louder, and to live more kindly and generously than we did before."
Fallon added: "Thank you, pal."
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The star staged the One Love concert less than two weeks after the attack
Ariana and Manchester
Ian Youngs, arts & entertainment reporter
Ariana Grande wants to carry on being a "normal" pop star - on Fallon's show, she performed her new single, she took part in zany sketches, she talked about her new album to cheers from the excitable crowd.
And she is a brilliant pop star. But she will always be inextricably linked with the events of 22 May 2017. She is also only human.
I don't think the reason she didn't talk directly about Manchester is because she wants to distance herself from it - if that was the case, she would have asked Fallon not to mention it either. His comments would have been planned in advance.
Perhaps having him talk about it was a way of addressing the subject without having to discuss it herself. From the look on her face when he made his comments, perhaps it is just still too painful.
Six other things we learned from Ariana Grande's interview
This is a new chapter
Ariana said she didn't enjoy the process of making the face masks that are seen in the video for No Tears Left To Cry, the first single from the new album.
"They wrap you up and they bandage you for like 30 or 40 minutes and you can't see. All of your senses are completely cut off," she said.
But she did add the meaning was "very deep - taking off one chapter and putting on another".
The album's coming in July or August
She said she's going to do "something special" on the 20th of every month until the album comes out. The first "something" is performing at the Billboard Music Awards on 20 May.
She then said there are only three 20ths until the release - putting the big day perhaps at 20 July, and certainly before 19 August.
We know who she's worked with
Namely Pharrell and Nas, and songwriters and producers Ilya and Savan Kotecha.
God is a woman
That, at least, is the title of one of her songs.
And Ariana's grandmother prefers it to No Tears Left To Cry.
"She loves God Is A Woman," Ariana said. "I'll ask her, 'Hey Nonna, what do you think of my single? Do you like No Tears Left To Cry?' She was like, 'I love it... but you know Ariana, can we listen to God Is A Woman again?'"
She also revealed other song titles including The Light Is Coming (a religious theme, perhaps?), REM and Raindrops.
A family link with the past
Raindrops is "kind of like an intro" to the album, which is "a cover of a small part of a song from the '50s". That song is An Angel Cried by The Four Seasons.
"We were really close to finishing the album and I woke up and I had it in my head," she said.
She went to check who wrote it. "This is so crazy, y'all are going to think I'm lying - but my grandfather's best friend, who I grew up hanging out with, Charlie Calello, wrote it with Bob Gaudio from the Four Seasons, and that gave me goosebumps."
There are hidden messages in the video
She suggested there are clues to the album's other song titles in the No Tears Left To Cry video.
"We hid a tracklist in the video but it's not in order," she revealed.
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Ariana Grande to Open the 2018 Billboard Music Awards
Ariana Grande is on top of the world right now. The record-breaking pop star just made her triumphant, gravity-defying return with "No Tears Left to Cry," an empowering dance floor jam that made her the only artist to have the lead single from their first four albums debut in the Billboard Hot 100. In perfect timing, she's just been announced as the opening artist for the 2018 Billboard Music Awards.
Grande broke the news during her Tuesday night (May 1) takeover of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, on which she also gave the television debut performance of "No Tears Left to Cry." She joins the star-studded schedule with previously announced performances from BTS, Camila Cabello, Dua Lipa and Shawn Mendes for one of music's biggest nights of the year.
Hosted by Kelly Clarkson, the 2018 BBMAs will be broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 20 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on NBC.
Everything We Know About Ariana Grande's New Album 'Sweetener'
At last, "AG4" has an official name and release date. Sweetener will be here before we know it, and in the meantime, we’ve rounded up all the intel that’s known about Ariana Grande’s next record.
Grande took over The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday (May 1), revealing long-awaited details about the album, as well as the news that she'll be opening the Billboard Music Awards on May 20 with an epic performance.
The singer also appeared in both musical and non-musical sketches for the episode, and debuted her comeback single “No Tears Left To Cry” on television. “Thanks to my bff @jimmyfallon for letting me co host the show tonight and perform No Tears for the first time on tv,” Grande wrote on Instagram after the fact. “You’re my favorite always and forever!”
Here's what we know so far:
Title
Grande has named her new record Sweetener, and explained the meaning during her Tonight Show appearance shortly after making the announcement. "It’s kind of about bringing light to a situation or to someone’s life,” Grande said, “Or somebody else brings life to your life. Sweetening the situation.”
“I’ve been away too long. I want to say everything,” she added, later tweeting the album name -- in an upside-down font, of course.
By the way: Grande has clearly been thinking about the title for a while; she posted an Instagram photo on Nov. 5, 2016 with a caption that no one thought twice about at the time.
ɹǝuǝʇǝǝʍs — Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) May 2, 2018
sweetener A post shared by Ariana Grande (@arianagrande) on Nov 4, 2016 at 6:16pm PDT
Release Date
It's "coming this summer,” Grande told host Jimmy Fallon, though she didn’t give a date at first. Later, Grande revealed that she’ll be doing “something special on every 20th” leading up to the album release, starting with her BBMAs performance on May 20.
Without being prompted, Grande spilled the beans herself. “There’s only three 20ths until the big thing,” she blurted, and all it took was a bit of simple math: Sweetener will arrive on July 20th!
Collaborators
Grande name-dropped producers ILYA, Savan Kotecha, Max Martin and Pharrell Williams when prompted by Fallon. Pharrell has since tweeted about the album -- with a typo, but still -- and responded to an excited fan.
She is and issooo Fire — Pharrell Williams (@Pharrell) May 2, 2018
Track List
Grande didn’t go too in-depth here, but she did mention a few songs that will appear on Sweetener: “R.E.M.,” “The Light Is Coming,” “God Is a Woman” and the intro, “Raindrops."
“God Is a Woman,” which was first teased in her “No Tears Left To Cry” music video, is apparently her grandmother’s favorite. "She loves God Is A Woman," the singer told Fallon. "I'll ask her, 'Hey Nonna, what do you think of my single? Do you like No Tears Left To Cry?' She was like, 'I love it...but you know Ariana, can we listen to God Is A Woman again?'"
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Ariana Grande recently released her comeback single No Tears Left To Cry
Ariana Grande has said she wants to "bring light" to our lives with her new album in her first interview since last year's Manchester attack.
She didn't address the bombing directly but became emotional when US TV host Jimmy Fallon discussed it.
The pop star did announce her new album Sweetener, which is due this summer.
She said it is "about bringing light to a situation, or to someone's life, or somebody else who brings light to your life, or sweetening the situation".
Speaking on Fallon's NBC talk show, the 24-year-old singer did not say any more about the inspirations behind it.
It was the host who addressed the events of last May, when 22 people died in a bombing after her concert at Manchester Arena.
She returned to the city to stage the One Love concert less than two weeks later.
Explaining that he hadn't seen the singer since that time, Fallon said: "I know it's tough for everybody, tough for fans and tough for you, and I know you haven't done any interviews, and I understand that.
"I just wanted to say thank you so much for coming on the show and for being strong and for entertaining and for showing up and going back to Manchester and doing a benefit. I thought that was awesome of you. I just think you're so strong and so cool."
Ariana started welling up and just replied: "Thanks. Thank you."
Fallon then quoted part of a message the singer wrote in the days after the attack: "We won't let hate win. Our response to this violence must be to come closer together, to help each other, to love more, to sing louder, and to live more kindly and generously than we did before."
Fallon added: "Thank you, pal."
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The star staged the One Love concert less than two weeks after the attack
Ariana and Manchester
Ian Youngs, arts & entertainment reporter
Ariana Grande wants to carry on being a "normal" pop star - on Fallon's show, she performed her new single, she took part in zany sketches, she talked about her new album to cheers from the excitable crowd.
And she is a brilliant pop star. But she will always be inextricably linked with the events of 22 May 2017. She is also only human.
I don't think the reason she didn't talk directly about Manchester is because she wants to distance herself from it - if that was the case, she would have asked Fallon not to mention it either. His comments would have been planned in advance.
Perhaps having him talk about it was a way of addressing the subject without having to discuss it herself. From the look on her face when he made his comments, perhaps it is just still too painful.
Six other things we learned from Ariana Grande's interview
This is a new chapter
Ariana said she didn't enjoy the process of making the face masks that are seen in the video for No Tears Left To Cry, the first single from the new album.
"They wrap you up and they bandage you for like 30 or 40 minutes and you can't see. All of your senses are completely cut off," she said.
But she did add the meaning was "very deep - taking off one chapter and putting on another".
The album's coming in July or August
She said she's going to do "something special" on the 20th of every month until the album comes out. The first "something" is performing at the Billboard Music Awards on 20 May.
She then said there are only three 20ths until the release - putting the big day perhaps at 20 July, and certainly before 19 August.
We know who she's worked with
Namely Pharrell and Nas, and songwriters and producers Ilya and Savan Kotecha.
God is a woman
That, at least, is the title of one of her songs.
And Ariana's grandmother prefers it to No Tears Left To Cry.
"She loves God Is A Woman," Ariana said. "I'll ask her, 'Hey Nonna, what do you think of my single? Do you like No Tears Left To Cry?' She was like, 'I love it... but you know Ariana, can we listen to God Is A Woman again?'"
She also revealed other song titles including The Light Is Coming (a religious theme, perhaps?), REM and Raindrops.
A family link with the past
Raindrops is "kind of like an intro" to the album, which is "a cover of a small part of a song from the '50s". That song is An Angel Cried by The Four Seasons.
"We were really close to finishing the album and I woke up and I had it in my head," she said.
She went to check who wrote it. "This is so crazy, y'all are going to think I'm lying - but my grandfather's best friend, who I grew up hanging out with, Charlie Calello, wrote it with Bob Gaudio from the Four Seasons, and that gave me goosebumps."
There are hidden messages in the video
She suggested there are clues to the album's other song titles in the No Tears Left To Cry video.
"We hid a tracklist in the video but it's not in order," she revealed.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
