Ariana Grande speaks out about ‘trauma’ of Manchester Arena terror attack
Singer wanted to ‘bury herself in work’ after 2017 bombing
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Ariana Grande has opened up about the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing, explaining she’s still processing the trauma stemming from the attack.
The singer discussed the 22 May 2017 bombing, which left 23 people dead, in an interview with Vogue.
“It’s not my trauma,” she told the magazine. “It’s those families’. It’s their losses, and so it’s hard to just let it all out without thinking about them reading this and reopening the memory for them.”
Grande said she was “proud” of the One Love Manchester concert, which raised more than £10m ($13m) for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund after it took place on 4 June, 2017.
“But at the end of the day, it didn’t bring anyone back,” she added. ”Everyone was like, Wow, look at this amazing thing, and I was like, What the f*** are you guys talking about? We did the best we could, but on a totally real level we did nothing. I’m sorry.”
Grande released her album Sweetener a little more than a year after the bombing, in August 2018.
It was rapidly followed by Thank U, Next in February 2019.
The singer said she found solace in returning to the studio after the traumatic event, crediting Pharrell Williams (one of the producers on Sweetener, who also collaborated with her for the title “Blazed”) with having “this magical outlook on everything”.
“I have a lot to say that could probably help people that I do want to share, but I have a lot that I still need to process myself and will probably never be ready to talk about,” Grande said.
“For a long time I didn’t want to talk to anyone about anything, because I didn’t want to think about anything. I kind of just wanted to bury myself in work and not focus on the real stuff, because I couldn’t believe it was real.”
Grande is currently in the midst of her Sweetener World Tour, which started in March and is scheduled to wrap up on 21 December in Los Angeles.