Ariana Grande has given her first interview since the Manchester bombing

'I just want to say thank you for coming on our show and being strong.'

Pop singer Ariana Grande has understandably spent the past year out of the limelight since hosting the One World Manchester benefit concert, but she’s finally returned to the screen for her first televised interview since the Manchester Arena bombing. She was a guest on the show The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, where she touched on the tragic events at her concert in an emotional moment.

Jimmy Fallon, who is a close friend of the star, was the one to bring up the sensitive subject during their interview.

He told her, ‘I haven’t seen you in over a year probably and I haven’t seen you since the tragic events that happened in Manchester. I know it’s just tough for everybody, and tough for fans, and tough for you, and I know you haven’t done any interviews and I understand.

And I just want to say thank you so much for coming on our show and being strong, and for entertaining and for showing up and going back to Manchester and doing a benefit. I think that was awesome of you.’

Ariana was clearly holding back tears and quietly thanked the host, turning briefly to the audience as they cheered her on. Instead of asking her about the situation, Jimmy chose to read a couple of lines from a message she wrote following the attack.

‘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,’ he said.

The host chose to end the show following the reading and the No Tears Left to Cry singer said nothing further about the topic.

The episode was an emotional rollercoaster, as she earlier joyfully participated in a game called Musical Genre Challenge in which she nailed a comedy cover of Kendrick Lamar’s HUMBLE as an Evanescence pop song. She also said a little too much about her latest album and essentially gave the whole game away, delighting her fans in the audience.

She spilled the beans on her new album, revealing that it was titled Sweetener and that she had worked closely with Pharrell on it. She also dropped a list of track names which include R.E.M., God Is A Woman, The Light Is Coming and the first track on the album: an acapella cover called Raindrops.

She explained the inspiration behind the album title and said, ‘It’s kind of about like bringing light to a situation, or to someone’s life or to someone else that brings light to your life or sweetening the situation.’

Our honorary Mancunian has definitely done just that. Welcome back, Ariana.