Ariana Grande has declared her love for the city of Manchester as she prepares to perform a headlining set at Gay Pride celebrations in the city.
The 26-year-old chart topping star has top billing at the 2019 Pride celebrations - returning to the city to perform two years after a terrorist attacked her Dangerous Woman World Tour performance at Manchester Arena.
Ahead of her headline slot, the Thank U, Next star shared her excitement to take to the stage - as well as her affection for the city which made her an honorary citizen.
Taking to Instagram on Sunday evening, Ariana shared a photograph of herself dressed in black and posing against a pink background.
"On our way to Manchester Pride. Love u so much. Can’t wait to give u all our love. You’re my heart in every way. See u soon,” she wrote as a caption for the photo.
On her Instagram stories the 26-year-old hitmaker shared a photo of herself, against a pink background, with three Manchester worker bees, a symbol which has brought many people together following the attack on Manchester Arena at Ariana's concert in 2017.
She followed this with the Manchester Pride logo.
Ariana will make her long-anticipated return to the city at the Mayfield Depot on The Yard stage at 10.25pm.
Manchester Council made the singer an honorary citizen to thank her for her support for the city following the attack.
Manchester Pride is her first performance here since One Love Manchester, the fundraising concert she organised in the wake of the terror attack at her Manchester Arena show on May 22 2017 in which 22 innocent people died and hundreds more were injured.
Then aged just 24, the star visited children in hospital and rallied the support of her famous friends to stage One Love Manchester at Emirates Old Trafford cricket ground.
The concert brought together 50,000 fans in a show of unity and defiance and raised millions of pounds for those bereaved and injured.
Speaking in a candid interview with Vogue recently she told the magazine it was 'not her trauma', adding: "It’s those families. It's their losses, and so it’s hard to just let it all out without thinking about them reading this and reopening the memory for them."
Speaking about One Love Manchester, she said: "I'm proud that we were able to raise a lot of money with the intention of giving people a feeling of love or unity, but at the end of the day, it didn't bring anyone back."
