Ariana Grande’s new single ‘No Tears Left to Cry’ epitomises Manchester’s culture

On the 22nd May 2017, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in the foyer of Manchester Arena during an Ariana Grande concert.

On the 4th June 2017, Grande, alongside acts Pharrel Williams, the Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Coldplay, Take That, Liam Gallagher, and Little Mix, hosted the Benefit Concert "One Love Manchester" in a defiant symbol of strength against terror.

On 20th April 2018, after nearly a year's hiatus, Grande made her comeback.

"No Tears Left to Cry" is classically Ariana: both soft and powerful, brimming with sassy pop vibes and most of all, unapologetically fun. But it's also iconically Mancunian.

Grande was made an "honorary Mancunian" after showing strength and positivity in the face of such a heinous event and her and her tour crew reportedly tatted themselves with the iconic Manchester bee symbol.

Post-attack, dedications and tributes to Manchester were widespread. Manchester poet, Tony Walsh's tender and fierce poem, "This is the Place", perhaps encapsulated Manchester's spirit best; "But we keep fighting back with Greater Manchester spirit … we won't take defeat and we don't want your pity because this is the place where we stand strong together, with a smile on our face, Mancunions forever", highlighting our jovial, resilient nature that is not entirely unlike Grande's.

Similarly, singing: "Don't matter how, what, where, who tries it
/ We're out here vibin', we vibin', we vibin'", the honorarily Manc star makes it clear she refuses to be defeated by terror. There's power in her lyrics, but most importantly it's fun and a little bit sassy. It's not classic Manchester music, such as the likes of the Stone Roses and New Order but it follows in their footsteps as a cracking pop tune in its own right.

Ariana Grande went above and beyond in helping our city after the attack, organising One Love Manchester, raising an amazing £17 million and counting for British Red Cross, extending love to victims and their families and visiting victims in hospital.

"No Tears Left to Cry" is a casual fuck you to all of the haters. Namely, Piers Morgan whinging about how Grande should have grieved after the attacks – Walsh and Grande both proved that this is not how things are done in Manchester. Much in the same way that Walsh informed crowds of hundreds at the Manchester attack memorial "And they left us a spirit, they left us a vibe/ The Mancunian Way to survive and to thrive/ And to work and to build, to connect and create and /Greater Manchester’s greatness is keeping it great" Grande shuts it down with a line that fits so perfectly it could have been written into the Walsh's poem: "We’re way too fly to partake in all this hate".

Ariana is proving that the people of Manchester didn't and wont bow their heads in grief, Manchester will and still does thrive. She's taken an awful situation and created something from it, and most importantly something that you can bop to (as we all know, in Manchester, we like to party).

But most of all, "No Tears Left to Cry" is for Manchester, the city that suffered 22 deaths and over 500 injuries and rose from the ashes refusing to be defeated. With the same stoic resilience, Ariana Grande bites back, in a touching final scene of the video accompanying her new single, set in a rainy, urban city, she releases a bee into the air – Manchester, flying, thriving, resilient.

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