Ariana Grande.Photo:Art Streiber/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

THE VOICE – Season: 21 – Pictured: Ariana Grande

Art Streiber/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Ariana Grandehad no plans to put out a new record. But when the strike hit, so did some inspiration.

The result?Eternal Sunshine, her seventh studio album, set for release on March 8.

“I did not plan to [make new music now]. I didn’t have the goal to make an album,” she said on theZach Sang ShowMonday. “I actually was really opposed to coming out with music until afterWicked, either both parts or just one part. I wasn’t sure how I would feel.”

Ariana Grande.David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty

Ariana Grande

David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty

But when the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes shut down production onWicked, Grande, 30, headed to New York City, where she teamed up with producer Max Martin for a week.

Eternal Sunshineis Grande’s first album in three-and-a-half years, and follows 2020’sPositions. Grande told Sang that in the years since releasingPositions, her relationship to music has evolved, thanks in part toherWickedcharacter Glinda(The first part of the movie is set for release on Nov. 27, while the second part will premiere a year later).

“I kind of healed a lot of parts of myself alongside and through her and it actually helped me heal a lot of my own personal weird stuff that I had with my relationship to music and to being an artist,” she said. “It all happened absolutely how it was meant to be.”

Grande released the album’s first single “Yes, And?” in January, a house-influenced track that finds the star responding to public conversation surrounding her appearance, her divorce from ex-husband Dalton Gomez and her current relationship withWickedcostarEthan Slater.

As for touringEternal Sunshine, the two-time Grammy winner told Sang her plans were “TBD.”

“I would love to do shows. I love being onstage, I miss being onstage, I miss my fans so much,” she said. “I had a really hard time emotionally on my last tour but I think that’s because of where I was at. So just like with music, I think I’m really excited to redefine my relationship to shows when I’m ready and see what that looks like.”

She added that she has a “very busy” year coming up with the release ofWickedin November, and that if she did any sort of touring, it would likely be “a littler something.”

“I definitely do have the itch,” she said. “I miss my fans, I miss being onstage. But then again I also am not ready to announce any sort of thing or get people too excited, ‘cause I don’t want to disappoint.”

“I look forward to savoring every second of this new era with you all and I sincerely cannot wait for it to be yours!” it’s going to be (and already is) so special,” she wrote.

source: people.com