When Ariana Grande released “No Tears Left to Cry” in 2018, it was as much a source of healing as it was a song. The powerhouse team of Grande, Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, and Ilya Salmanzadeh got into the writing room in the wake of the tragic bombing that occurred after Grande’s concert at Manchester Arena in England in May 2017. The tragedy left 22 people dead, several of whom were children, and more than 1,000 others injured.
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Less than a month later, a heartbroken Grande organized One Love Manchester, a benefit concert to help the victims and their families. Grande was continuing to heal her wounds nearly a year later when she released “No Tears Left to Cry” in April 2018 as the lead single from her critically acclaimed album, Sweetener.
The Change-Up
Akin to Gloria Gaynor’s classic “I Will Survive,” the song starts off with the inclination that it’s going to be a ballad. However, the song takes only a few seconds to change course and become a dance tune. It was Grande’s idea for it to start off slow and then transition into high energy. She also threw out the penultimate line that became the title of the song.
“She went through all this pressure she’s been through and we had to figure out a way for her to say what she wanted to say and say how she was feeling in a song because there’s a lot of weight on especially that first look,” Kotecha explained to Billboard. “She was so strong and had so many ideas this time, and she was like, ‘I want it to be positive and talk about positivity and love. I don’t have any tears left to cry.’ We were like, that’s it! That’s the way you say it!'”
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The writing team was also sonically inspired by Lauryn Hill and En Vogue, who were also known to have chord changes between the verses and the chorus. Lyrically, the song finds Grande elevating to a higher vibration as she’s moving on and moving up in life. 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, she proclaims in the chorus.
“Ari made it clear that she didn’t want to dwell on what happened [in Manchester],” Kotecha told Vulture. “She wanted to touch on it, but at the same time wanted this album to be positive, about light and sharing love. It was really important to her that whatever the first thing she did coming back had to be hopeful.”
Grande herself affirmed that mission when she shared on social media when the song was released, “[T]hank you from the bottom of my heart. i have no idea where to start or what to say. i’m so unimaginably grateful for your love, warmth and kindness. i hope this song brings you light and comfort but also makes you wanna dance and live ya best life!”
“No Tears” debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 which continued her record as being the first artist to debut inside the Top 10 on the all-genre chart with the lead singles off her albums (Sweetener was her fourth at the time). The album won Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2019 Grammy Awards.
“She’s done the [lighter] pop thing and was determined to express herself in ways she hasn’t before. It’s a healing process for her, but to also help others,” Kotecha professed to Vulture. “She came out of Manchester determined to make the world better.”
Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage
