Ariana Grande credits ‘Thank U, Next’ with “saving my life” following Mac Miller’s death and the Manchester terrorist attack
Ariana Grande has credited her hit album ‘Thank U, Next’ with “saving my life” during a dark period of time for the pop singer.
On the latest episode of The Hollywood Reporter‘s ‘Awards Chatter’ podcast with Ariana Grande, the singer-actress opened up about her mental health struggles in the past and how music helped her move forward.
‘Thank U, Next’ came just a couple of short months after the release of her 2018 album ‘Sweetener’ and was written and recorded in the span of just two weeks, which is something Ariana Grande has said she “needed”.
She explained to The Hollywood Reporter: “I was doing so much therapy, and I was dealing with PTSD and all different kinds of grief and depression and anxiety. I was, of course, treating it very seriously, but having music be a part of that remedy was absolutely contributing to saving my life. They were dark times, and the music brought so much levity.”
Listen to Ariana Grande’s chat with The Hollywood Reporter‘s ‘Awards Chatter’ below.
With ‘Thank U, Next’ coming so soon after ‘Sweetener’, Grande admitted that it was something her record label was “hesitant” about, but she saw it as “a means of survival”. She said: “The label understood that, but they were also very hesitant to stop Sweetener dead in its tracks and move onto an album so quickly… I just said, ‘I don’t really care about the formula. I don’t want to play by the rules at this moment, because this is what I need for my soul.’ It felt really healing and freeing.”
‘Thank U, Next’ came as a lifeline for Grande, who in the months prior had faced some tumultuous times. In September 2018, her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller had died from an accidental drug overdose, and in October that year, she broke up with comedian-actor Pete Davidson. A year before all of that, her Manchester concert in 2017 was infamously targetted for a deadly terrorist attack, leaving her with PTSD.
More recently, Grande has enjoyed a significant 2024, releasing her latest album ‘Eternal Sunshine’ before going on to dominate the box office globally as Glinda in Wicked – for which she has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 2025 Oscars.
She appeared on the Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast earlier this year and touched on the vocal prep she undertook for her “dream role” as Glinda, as well as the new song her character takes on in the second instalment, Wicked: For Good, which is set for release in cinemas November 21.
The ‘Yes, And?‘ singer said playing the pink-loving witch came with a heavy sense of responsibility, and has already admitted it may change her vocals forever, having spent months transforming her voice to sing Glinda’s soprano parts.
She also gave fans a hint of what’s to come from Glinda’s new song, written by the Broadway production’s original composer Stephen Schwartz – who her co-star Cynthia Erivo teamed up with to co-write an original track for the sequel.
In a four-star review of Wicked, Nick Levine wrote for NME: “Wicked flags a little in the middle, but not enough to dampen a dramatic climax in which Elphaba and Glinda travel to Oz to meet the fabled Wonderful Wizard (Jeff Goldblum). He and Yeoh sell their brief musical numbers on twinkly charisma, but Erivo and Grande are both vocally extraordinary.”
The post Ariana Grande credits ‘Thank U, Next’ with “saving my life” following Mac Miller’s death and the Manchester terrorist attack appeared first on NME.
Surej Singh
NME
