The video received critical acclaim . Emily Heward of the '' Manchester Evening News '' called it " a touching tribute " to Manchester , noting that its symbolic worker bee represents the city 's resilience . Similarly , MTV UK 's Ross McNeilage said the video " perfectly encapsulates the dream-like euphoria of the song and is a beautiful , subtle tribute " . McNeilage deemed it " a truly stunning visual that is undoubtedly her best music video to date . " Charles Holmes of MTV likened it to visuals by M.C. Escher and praised the juxtaposition of moods , writing , " Instead of Ariana telling us her world was turned upside down the video shows us ... The dark muted video feels like sadness , while Ariana 's voice sounds like triumph . " Chris Willman of '' Variety '' described the music video as " a combination of '' Inception '' and Fred Astaire 's old dancing-on-the-ceiling movie musical routine " . Calin van Paris of '' Vogue '' called it " an '' Inception '' - style dreamworld " , and regarded Grande 's braided ponytail as " a surprising twist on a classic updo " and " a high-impact aesthetic " . In '' Billboard '' magazine , Abby Jones viewed the visual as a spectacle , finding it " dazzling and dizzying " , while Shanté Honeycutt deemed it " a beautiful , mind-bending video " . Spencer Kornhaber wrote in '' The Atlantic '' : The video ... is lush and transporting , aestheticizing the idea of one 's feet searching for solid ground . " The video has received over 800 million views on YouTube and surpassed Grande 's 2015 single " Focus " to become her most-viewed video in its first day and first week of release ( 15 and 51.7 million views , respectively ) , being later beaten by Grande 's single " Thank U , Next " released the same year . The music video won the Best Pop Video award at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards and was nominated for Video of the Year , Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects
2018 MTV Video Music Awards
2018 MTV Video Music Awards
No Tears Left to Cry