Ariana Grande‘s highly anticipated fourth album Sweetener made its way into the world a week ago and in case you were wondering, yes, it skyrocketed to the top of the charts, debuting at number one. The songstress has said time and time again this album is much more personal and there’s one track that really has connected with her fans: the closing song, “Get Well Soon.” And the meaning behind it all truly proves how Ari is 100% being her authentic self in her music. 

Speaking to her BFF and “Dance to This” duet partner Troye Sivan for Paper Magazine, Ariana explained that she ended up writing “Get Well Soon” with iconic producer Pharrell. It came about when she was talking to P about all the anxiety she was living with in the wake of the attack that happened at her concert in Manchester, which sadly resulted in the loss of 22 of her fans as well as many more who were injured.

“Overall, [Pharrell] kind of forced it out of me, because I was in a really bad place mentally. I’ve always had anxiety, I’ve had anxiety for years. But when I got home from tour it reached a very different, intense peak. It became physical and I was not going out at all, and I felt like I was outside my body,” Ariana explained. “I’d have these spells every now and then where I felt like I was having déjà vu, but like 24/7 for three months at a time. It was really weird, and all that was on my mind. [Pharrell] was like, ‘You have to write about it. You need to make this into music and get this shit out, and I promise it will heal you.’ And it definitely helped. It still took me a few weeks to feel better, but looking back at it now from a healthier place, it’s probably one of the most important songs I’ll ever write.”

It’s truly amazing she was able to turn to music to channel her emotions and work through all she was feeling, as dealing with such a traumatic event is something that changes a person. The opening lyrics explain where her headspace was at the point in time she wrote this.

“They say my system is overloaded
  (Girl, what’s wrong with you? Come back down)
  I’m too much in my head, did you notice?
  (Girl, what’s wrong with you? Come back down)
  My body’s here on Earth, but I’m floating
  (Girl, what’s wrong with you? Come back down)
  Disconnected, so sometimes, I feel frozen and alone”

And on Twitter, she told fans about how the scary things she was feeling really fueled her to face her thoughts and channel it all into the song.

Ariana is all about positivity and spreading as much love and light into the world as she can, something she hopes to do with this song. The track comes in at five minutes and 22 seconds and has 40 seconds of silence at the end of it. That length has significance, since the date of the attack was May 22.

“I wanted to subliminally honor the Manchester victims. I wanted to make the song five minutes and 22 seconds as a little way to celebrate and honor them and their lives. That song is about healing and it’s supposed to be a great big musical hug for everybody who’s going through anything dark,” she said during an interview with Good Morning America. Her music now is nothing short of open and honest and according to Ari herself, this is something she hadn’t really done with her last two albums.

“It’s definitely more personal. You know, I feel like Dangerous Woman was a grown-up My Everything, and this is a grown-up Yours Truly. And with all due respect to My Everything and Dangerous Woman, I feel like I played the game a lot on those two albums. I wanted to make dope records that would put me in a place where I could then make whatever the f— I wanted. I kind of played the game a little bit. All my favorite songs from those two albums are not the singles, like they aren’t at all. Like literally,” she said to Troye. “I don’t know if that makes any sense, am I insulting my own work? I don’t think so, because I really like it all. But this just feels closer to home, you know what I mean?”

Girl, these tracks speak for themselves and “Get Well Soon” is proof of that.

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