Ariana Grande has been drawn to performing practically her whole life. At just eight years old, she sang at a professional ice hockey game and on a cruise ship, before eventually moving on to Broadway at just 15. She has since flawlessly made the transition from television, to music, to film—and has mastered all three. Clearly, performing has always been natural for Grande, and she recently opened up about how music in particular was a salve during some of the hardest moments of her life.
During an appearance on The Hollywood Reporter podcast Awards Chatter, Grande recalled going through some heartbreaking periods, specifically in the years following the 2017 Manchester concert bombing and the death of ex-boyfriend Mac Miller.
“I was doing so much therapy, and I was dealing with PTSD and all different kinds of grief and depression and anxiety, and I was, of course, treating it very seriously, but having music be a part of that remedy was absolutely contributing to saving my life,” Grande told host Scott Feinberg. “They were dark times, and the music brought so much levity, and so did the experience. But it poured out with urgency, and it was made with urgency, and it was a means of survival.”
For context, Grande released her fourth and fifth studio albums, Sweetener (2018) and Thank U, Next (2019), almost back-to-back, dropping both within the span of six months. (Prior to that, Grande had already been moving at a breakneck pace—releasing her first three albums in three years.) The urgency in her 2018-19 music could be felt, especially in deeply emotional tracks like “No Tears Left to Cry,” “Ghostin,” and “Breathin.”
Looking back at what she went through, Grande is thankful for the music that came out of her pain. “It felt really healing and freeing,” she said. “It was just such a beautiful moment of connection.”