Following the bombing at her concert at Manchester Arena during her Dangerous Woman Tour in May 2017 , Ariana Grande became reluctant to record new music , preferring to spend time with her loved ones because of the emotional impact the tour had on her . " No Tears Left to Cry " was the first song Grande wrote with Max Martin , Ilya and Savan Kotecha for '' Sweetener '' , after working with Pharrell Williams for most of the album . Grande wanted her first single since the bombing to be hopeful and touch on the incident , but not dwell on it . The song came about when she said , " I want it to be positive and talk about positivity and love . I do n't have any tears left to cry . " Martin then sang the chorus melody . They composed the song 's music before writing the lyrics
bombing at her concert at Manchester Arena
Manchester Arena bombing
No Tears Left to Cry