Ariana Grande on why she refuses to ‘shut up and sing’

Ariana Grande has been open about her political beliefs, and she doesn’t intend to stop.

“Not everyone is going to agree with you, but that doesn’t mean I’m just going to shut up and sing my songs,” she told Elle. “I’m also going to be a human being who cares about other human beings; to be an ally and use my privilege to help educate people.”

Grande also said she’s received blowback for weighing in on issues.

“There’s a lot of noise when you say anything about anything,” she said. “But if I’m not going to say it, what’s the f***ing point of being here?”

The singer supported Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign, tweeting “yaaas @hillaryclinton,” the day Clinton announced her campaign, and wearing a sweatshirt with Clinton’s face swapped with hers on her Dangerous Woman album cover. She’s also used her music to make a statement, featuring on the Victoria Monet song “Better Days,” in support of Black Lives Matter in 2016, performing at a benefit in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year after the white supremacist rally, and at the March For Our Lives rally in Washington, DC, in March.

In her Elle interview, Grande said “everything is different” since a terror attack at her concert in Manchester in 2017 and credited her fans with inspiring her to return to performing.

“It’s the most inspiring thing in the world that these kids pack the venue,” she said. “They’re smiling, holding signs saying, ‘Hate will never win.'”