-How's the album coming? Are we close to an album?
-Yes. My album is coming this summer.
-It is?
[ Cheers and applause ]
That's big! -Yeah.
-All right, tell me more, who's producing?
Who are you working with?
-I worked with Pharrell and Max. -Nice!
-And ILYA and Savan.
And it was a really awesome experience.
It is called "Sweetener."
[ Cheers and applause ]
-You're dropping all the things everyone wants to hear.
It is called "Sweetener."
-I know, I've been away too long.
I have so much more -- I want to say everything.
-Yeah, go ahead. Tell me every single thing.
It's called "Sweetener." -Okay, so yeah.
-Why is it called "Sweetener"? -Because it's kind of about,
like, bringing light to a situation or to someone's life
or somebody else who brings light to your life
or sweetening the situation, yeah.
-Everyone needs a little sweetener. Yeah.
-Yeah, yeah. -Can you drop any song hints?
-I look like a gum drop. Is it okay?
[ Laughter ] -You don't -- you look like
the most beautiful gum drop. It's fantastic.
Don't change anything. You look great.
-All right.
[ Laughter ]
-Can you tell us any songs on the record?
-I can. Should I just spit it out?
-No, I mean -- [ Cheers and applause ]
You're telling everyone.
Spoilers! Spoiler alert!
You're about to hear every single thing.
-Yeah. -Give us a couple.
-My fans know that I have a song called "R.E.M."
because I have a big mouth and I went on Twitter
and I just, like, tweet-vomited a bunch of lyrics the other day.
I was like, "Good morning, I'm bored.
Okay, here's a song."
[ Laughter ]
So -- so I spilled a bunch of tea in that.
Okay, and then there's another song called
"The Light Is Coming" that I love a lot.
-[ Vocalizing ] -Oh, ooh, unh, they said.
[ Laughter ]
I heard someone make that noise.
-Yeah. -And then there's one called
"God is a Woman" that I love.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Wow. They know these songs already.
They're not even like -- -We hid, like, a track list
in the video, but it's not in order.
-Oh. -So, yeah.
My fans have been -- -Good stuff!
-Yeah, oh, thank you. -Can you tell us something
that we don't know? What is the first song?
-Okay, so the first song --
well, it's kind of like an intro.
It's called "Raindrops." And it's --
[ Cheers and applause ] -What is the story?
-"Yaas!" I just heard someone say.
-Yaaah. -Thank you.
-What is the story behind "Raindrops?"
-It's a really crazy story actually.
It, like, gives me goosebumps every time we, I, like --
It's so crazy. So -- so it is actually --
it's like a cover of a small part of a song
from the '50s called "An Angel Cried."
And I -- I had it, like, in my head.
I woke up -- we were really close to finishing
the album and I had it in my head.
And I said to Max, I said, "You know what?
Let me just, like, record this little part a cappella.
Let's just go in and do it and maybe we can, like,
chop it up and sample it or something,
or, like, make a beat out of it or whatever."
Anyway, I do it, and then Max was like,
"Let's not touch that, just leave it like that."
And so that's how the album starts.
And I went to go check to see who wrote it.
Just -- I mean, I was curious, you know?
And so it turns out -- This is so crazy.
Y'all are going to think I'm lying,
but my grandfather's best friend,
who I grew up hanging out with in Boca,
Charlie Calello,
wrote it with Bob Gaudio from The Four Seasons.
And that really just gave me goosebumps.
-Wow, so your grandfather knew him?
-Yeah, really well. -Knew the writer.
-Really well. [ Applause ]
-There's almost like -- it's almost like a sign,
him telling you.
-Yeah, he was like, "Okay, the album's done, girl."
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah, exactly. -Yeah.
-And has your grandma listened to the record?
-She has, yeah. -Nonna.
-Nonna has heard it. -Nonna.
-Yeah. -I love Nonna so much.
-Yeah. -Hi, Nonna.
-Hi, Nonna. -We always say "hi" to her.
Hi, Nonna. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Hi, Nonna. -What does Nonna say
about the album? -She loves "God is a Woman."
She loves it so much. -That's her jam.
-That's her favorite. I'll ask her, like,
"Hey, Nonna, what do you think of, like, you know, my single,
what do -- do like 'No Tears Left To Cry'?"
And she's like, "I love it. But you know, Ariana,
can we listen to 'God is a Woman' again?"
And I'm like, "Nonna, okay." -I love Nonna.
-She -- it's, you know, she has her favorites.
She's not subtle about it. [ Laughter ]
-Now you said summer, you hinted at summer.
-Yeah. -But you're doing also
a cool thing, like, on the 20th? -Oh, yeah, yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay, so I told Jimmy,
I told Jimmy, I told Jimmy. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ] -Since I'm not announcing
the album date, I -- yet, you'll have it
in like two seconds, but --
[ Laughter ]
I'm going to be doing something special on every 20th.
-So what -- what? -Yeah.
-So every 20th, you're doing something special.
-Yeah. -Like, can you give an example?
-There's, like, only like three 20ths until the big thing,
but, you know, I just told you when it is but --
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-So basically, wow, all right. So I'm doing the math.
-So basically, yeah, okay. -Okay, yeah,
this is very exciting. -Okay, don't say, okay, okay.
-All right. -Yeah.
-But what's happening this month on May 20th?
-I am performing at the Billboard Awards.
-Hey, that's it!
[ Cheers and applause ]
All right. Good. I haven't seen you --
I haven't seen you in over a year, probably,
and I haven't seen you since the tragic events
that happened in Manchester.
And I know it's just tough for everybody
and tough for fans and tough for you.
And I know you haven't done any interviews,
and I understand that. I just wanted to say thank you
so much for coming on our show and for being strong.
And for entertaining and for showing up
and going back to Manchester and doing a benefit.
I thought that was awesome. -Thanks.
And just so -- I just think you're so strong.
-Thanks. -And so cool.
-Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-To do that...
[ Cheers and applause continues ]
You...
You wrote an essay online,
and I just wanted just read a couple of lines from that
that you wrote I just thought was beautiful.
You said, "We won't let hate win.
Our response to this violence must be to come closer together,
to help each other, to love more, to sing louder,
and to live more kindly and generously than we did before."
[ Cheers and applause ]
Thank you. Thank you, pal.
Thank you for saying that. Thank you for being here.