Ariana Grande Addresses Manchester Bombing in Powerful Letter

It’s been over a year since the tragic Manchester bombing at an Ariana Grande concert, and the singer recently penned a letter about the life-changing experience.

The letter was shared during her new four-part YouTube docuseries, Dangerous Woman Diaries, and reveals Grande’s feelings regarding the horrific terror attack less than a year after it happened.

“I’m writing to you this February 22, 2018,” she begins her letter. “It’s been eight months since the attack at our show at the Manchester Arena. It’s impossible to know where to start or to know what to say about this part. May 22, 2017, will leave me speechless and filled with questions for the rest of my life.”

“Music is an escape. Music is the safest thing I’ve ever known. Music — pop music, stan culture — is something that brings people together, introduces them to some of their best friends, and makes them feel like they can be themselves. It is comfort. It is fun. It is expression. It is happiness. It is the last thing that would ever harm someone. It is safe,” Grande continues. “When something so opposite and so poisonous takes place in your world that is supposed to be everything but that … it is shocking and heartbreaking in a way that seems impossible to fully recover from.”

“The spirit of the people of Manchester, the families affected by this horrendous tragedy, and my fans around the world have permanently impacted all of us for the rest of our lives. Their love, strength, and unity showed me, my team, my dancers, band, and entire crew not to be defeated. To continue during the scariest and saddest of times. To not let hate win. But instead, love as loudly as possible, and to appreciate every moment,” she goes on to say.

“The people of Manchester were able to change an event that portrayed the worst of humanity into one that portrayed the most beautiful of humanity. ‘Like a handprint on my heart’ … I think of Manchester constantly and will carry this with me every day for the rest of my life,” Grande’s letter concludes.

The singer also marked the anniversary of the bombing earlier this year by tweeting out a heartfelt message to fans.

“Thinking of you all today and every day,” she posted on Twitter on Tues. may 22. “I love you with all of me and am sending you all the light and warmth I have to offer on this challenging day.”

Grande’s next album will reportedly be titled Thank U, Next — which is also the title of the album’s first single — and is expected sometime in 2019.