
On May 1, 2018, during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Grande revealed the title of the album, Sweetener. In its music video, released the same day, one scene showed a piece of paper with the title "Track List" at the top, however, Grande confirmed that the songs in the video weren't in the order they would appear on the album. Piece of paper from the music video for " No Tears Left To Cry" showing the tracks featured in Sweetener. On April 17, 2018, Grande announced that the album's lead single, " No Tears Left To Cry", would be released on April 20, 2018. On April 16, 2018, it was reported that Grande may move up the lead single release to April 20, 2018, due to labelmate Post Malone's album being released on April 27.


On April 9, 2018, it was reported that Grande was set to release the lead single from the album on Apand it was revealed that Savan Kotecha worked on the album. It was also revealed that Pharrell Williams and Max Martin each produced half of the album. On March 2, 2018, the album was reported to be complete. Charlie Walk, from Republic Records, also said about the album: "She's making some music that we haven't heard before from her, different types of stuff that I think is gonna be really super important for the 2018 music scene." Grande's brother, Frankie Grande, said: "It's the best thing that ever happened on earth. Grande's close friend, Colleen Ballinger, said in a Q&A that she has heard some of the album. On December 31, 2017, Grande shared a snippet from the album on her Instagram, which was later revealed to be a track titled " Get Well Soon". Pharrell Williams told LA Times: “The things that has to say on this album, it's pretty next-level.” On December 13, 2017, Grande posted a photo and video on her Instagram Story in the studio. Scooter Braun told Variety that the album has a more mature sound. On September 18, 2017, Riccardo Marcuzzo uploaded a photo on his Instagram Stories editing a song for Grande. On March 6, 2017, Grande confirmed during a Q&A that she had been working with Pharrell Williams for several months. In a Q&A, Grande said that she wanted to have 10 tracks on the album. On March 5, 2017, Grande confirmed, during the soundcheck of her Dangerous Woman Tour concert in Toronto, that the songs she had previously teased (" Got Her Own", " My Way" and " Sober") wouldn't be on the album. I've been working a lot and have been creating and feeling inspired." On January 10, 2017, Grande confirmed again by tweeting that she was done with the album, but later she deleted the tweet. She later clarified by saying, "I didn't mean to make an album, and I don't know if it's done at all, but I just have a bunch of songs that I really really like. On November 13, 2016, Grande confirmed on Snapchat that she was done with her fourth album. Following the release of Grande's third studio album, Dangerous Woman on May 20, 2016, which was met with positive reviews, Grande confirmed she began working and writing on the album on her Snapchat and Twitter later that month.
