Written by Ariana Grande with Max Martin, ILYA, and Savan Kotecha, this power ballad was the first track to be released by the singer since the the terrorist attack that killed 22 concertgoers outside one of her gigs in Manchester, England. Though Grande doesn't directly reference the Manchester attack, she alludes to the tragic event by singing about moving on from pain. Right now I'm in a state of mind I wanna be in like all the time Ain't got no tears left to cry So I'm pickin' it up, I'm pickin' up I'm lovin', I'm livin', I'm pickin' it up After been brought down so low she'd run out of tears, Ariana is determined not to let the incident break her and is ready to embrace life again.
The futuristic-looking Dave Meyers-directed video alludes to the Manchester Arena attack at the very end when a worker bee - which is the symbol of the city of Manchester - flies towards the camera. Dave Meyers explained in a behind the scenes film what he wanted to accomplish in the gravity-defying clip. "The concept we wanted to explore was the disorientation that you go through in life and the quest we all go through to kind of find the ground again," he said. "We sort of flirt with the ambiguity of whether you need to find the ground or whether the ground's just what you make of it," Meyers added.
Grande debuted the song live on April 20, 2018 at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, during Kygo's set.
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