Ariana Grande has described the Manchester Arena bomb attack as the “absolute worst of humanity” in an emotional interview nearly a year on from the atrocity.
A terrorist detonated an explosive device as fans were leaving her concert in the city on May 22 last year, killing 22 innocent people and injuring more than 500.
In an interview with Time magazine, the singer spoke about her response to the attack and its impact on her music.
thank you @Time ♡ https://t.co/aKQvWyuc4J pic.twitter.com/Qd3OfyYIwu
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) May 17, 2018
Grande, whose first new music following the attack, No Tears Left To Cry, alluded to the atrocity, described the bomb as the “absolute worst of humanity”.
The 24-year-old told the magazine: “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.”
Following the attack, the Dangerous Woman singer put on a benefit concert in Manchester for the families of those affected.
More than 50,000 people turned out at the Old Trafford cricket ground just two weeks after the attack to watch stars such as Justin Bieber, Coldplay and Liam Gallagher perform.
Grande closed the concert with a tearful performance of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
More than £2.7 million was raised from the gig and Grande was “moved” after being named an honorary citizen of Manchester.
She also got a bee tattoo, which came to symbolise Manchester’s resilience in the wake of the attack.
In a message to fans last year, Grande said: “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.”
Grande’s new album is called Sweetener, with the singer saying the message to her fans was that you can make a bad situation better.
Speaking to Jimmy Fallon, she explained the title as: “It’s kind of about bringing light to a situation or someone’s life, or somebody else who brings light to your life – sweetening the situation.”