Ariana Grande will drop the first song from her forthcoming album on April 27, a source close to the situation confirmed to Variety. The news was first reported by Hits. The album, which has seen the 24-year-old singer collaborating with Pharrell Williams, Max Martin among others is said to be deeply personal and inspired by her experiences over the past two years. Those experiences include the tragedy at Grande’s concert in Manchester, England last May 22, when a terrorist set off a bomb outside the arena, killing 23 people, including the attacker, and wounding approximately 500 others.
Just two weeks later, Grande and her manager Scooter Braun staged “One Love Manchester,” a benefit concert in the city that also featured Justin Bieber, The Black Eyed Peas, Coldplay, Miley Cyrus, Niall Horan, Little Mix, Katy Perry, Take That, Imogen Heap, Pharrell Williams, Robbie Williams, Victoria Monét, Marcus Mumford and Liam Gallagher. The concert raised more than $13 million for victims of the attack. The tragedy has seemingly brought forth a heightened political consciousness in the singer. While Grande has kept a relatively low profile since completing her “Dangerous Woman” tour in September — which resumed shortly after “One Love Manchester” — she performed her song “Be Alright” at the March for Our Lives pro-gun-control rally in Washington D.C.
She also performed at a September benefit concert in Charlottesville, Virginia after the white nationalist rally in that city. Grande is a native of Boca Raton, Florida, which is near Parkland, site of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that inspired the march. “This is for those brilliant students here today that are leading this march and for everybody participating today. Thank you so much for fighting for change and for love and safety and for our future,” Grande told the crowd at March For Our Lives.