Ariana Grande Spills Secrets About Her New Album Sweetener, Including Its Release Date

Arianators were given a treat on Tuesday, when Ariana Grande joined The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for a full hour of talk, sketches, and games.

The 24-year-old singer also spilled major secrets about her upcoming album, including its title — Sweetener — and its summer release date, July 20.

Grande has already released the album’s first single, “No Tears Left to Cry,” which she also performed on Tuesday night for the first time on network television. Both the song and the album mark the first new music Grande has released since the Manchester bombing in May 2017, when a terrorist killed 22 people at one of the U.K. stops of her Dangerous Woman Tour.

That tragic event appears to have inspired Grande’s new album title.

“It is called Sweetener because it’s kind of about bringing light to a situation or to someone’s life or somebody else who brings light to your life or sweetens the situation,” Grande said.

Since wrapping her tour in 2017, the Nickelodeon alum has maintained a relatively low profile, staying away from interviews —something Fallon acknowledged.

“I haven’t seen you since the tragic events that happened in Manchester. I know it’s tough for everybody, tough for fans, and tough for you. I know you haven’t done any interviews. I understand that,” he said. “I just want to say thank you so much for coming on the show and for being strong, for entertaining, for showing up, for going back to Manchester and doing a benefit. I just think you’re so strong.”

Fallon then read lines from Grande’s statement after the events to cheers from the audience, saying, “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.”

Leading up to the release of Sweetener, Grande will have special launches on the 20th of each month, starting with a performance at the Billboard Music Awards on May 20.

Grande said she worked with producers like Pharrell and American electronic pop duo Sylvan Esso — singer Amelia Meath and producer Nick Sanborn — for the new album.

Tracks will include a tune called “R.E.M.” — lyrics of which she shared on April 28 in what she called a “tweet vomit” — as well as “The Light Is Coming” and “God Is a Woman.” (A full track list is hidden in Grande’s “No Tears Left To Cry” music video, though not in order.)

(via people)