Since we’re Celeb Secrets, I’ve got to let you in on a little secret of my own: I am a really terrible Ariana Grande fan.
But hear me out. I’m not saying I don’t love her. I am saying I’m just not worthy. You see, I always have trouble catching up with the speed of her genius. Late to the game on appreciating her songs. And always saying things like “her voice is so powerful, I wish her songs were as strong,” and then twelve seconds later, falling head-over-heels with her singles, realizing they were mightily strong all along (with or without my recognition.) Guilty, guilty, guilty. I am so awful, that I can’t even figure out how to do the stylized “ʎɹɔ oʇ ʇɟǝl sɹɐǝʇ ou” title of her highly-anticipated new track without copy-pasting it from her Twitter bio.
I heard “No Tears Left To Cry” (see, LAZY!) for the first time on the radio yesterday, and I knew it was Ariana before it was announced, in the way that we all just instinctively know that Ariana Grande is singing. Even though it has been almost two years since the artist put out an official single, I still wasn’t ready to appreciate this one. My initial complaints were that it won’t be a natural radio hit (unless Arianators go hard in getting those requests in) and it’s too lyrically ambitious for my own frog-voice-sounding self to sing along with it.
Many people have lauded Ariana’s danceable, throwback-sounding beats with this track, but it’s the song’s message that is killing me here. At first, “No Tears Left To Cry” can sound like the kind of thing you’d say when you’re done caring. But instead, it really means that you’ve cared so much, and cried so much that you physically can’t muster the tears anymore. You’ve run dry, and certainly not from apathy. In the context of Ariana’s own experiences, like the tragic and horrific bombing at her Manchester concert last year, this is especially haunting and powerful.
Ready or not, we all got served Ariana’s most ambitious music video ever with this release too. Her topsy-turvy upside down music video will dazzle you with special effects, magical scenery, and a voice that us mere mortals can only sit back and appreciate. It will also make your acrophobia flare up, your tummy turn, and your vertigo spin. At first, I complained about this too — why her video has to be so jarring. Then I imagined how the artist’s own world must have been toppled over in the past year, and I was finally floored.
Give Ariana Grande’s “No Tears Left To Cry,” a listen and view above, and leave us your own reactions to the track below!
