A Soft and Vulnerable Moment at Ariana Grande’s Manchester Concert, Destroyed by Terror

As we heard the news from Manchester, it was hard not to feel especially devastated by the age of Ariana Grande’s fans: the youngest confirmed victim, Saffie Rose Roussos, was just eight years old, and at least twelve children under the age of sixteen are being treated in local hospitals. Though Grande, who is twenty-three, has deliberately moved toward more mature material in recent years, she emerged in the public consciousness as the star of a Nickelodeon show, “Victorious,” and the majority of her most devoted listeners are young women, some still kids. The precise timing of the attack was also sickening, both in terms of maximizing carnage and inflicting spiritual wounds. Anyone who has ever streamed out of a stadium after witnessing a beloved artist perform knows that particular post-show delirium: you bounce toward the exits, distracted, chattering with your buds, bright-eyed, limbs gone squiggly on the strange, lingering high of communal pleasure. It is a soft and vulnerable moment.