‘Didn’t Know What Any Part of It Meant’

While speaking with Variety, Grande and Erivo — who play Glinda and Elphaba, respectively, in the movie musical — broke down the interview moment that took over the internet.

For those who don’t know, during a Wicked junket interview last month, Out Magazine journalist Tracy E. Gilchrist told Erivo that “people are taking the lyrics to ‘Defying Gravity’ and really holding space with that. And feeling power in that.”

When Erivo then appeared to get emotional, Grande seemingly went to grab her hand to comfort, but instead held on to her long, Elphaba-green painted fingernail.

The clip blew on social media, with the moment — and the words “holding space” in particular — becoming a meme.

And, like many people online, Grande, 31, and Erivo, 37, told Variety that they, too, were confused about what Gilchrist was talking about — especially Grande, who hilariously admitted that she had “no idea” what was going on.

“I was surprised, because I had no idea. I hadn’t been looking [that much],” Erivo recalled of her apparent emotional response during the interview with Gilchrist.

“So I didn’t know what any part of it meant,” Grande chimed in, to which Wicked director Jon M. Chu, who joined her and Erivo for the conversation with Variety, laughed.

“I didn’t understand the first sentence. And then I definitely didn’t understand what was happening and how you responded,” Grande said to Erivo. “I was like, ‘Oh what did she say? What did you hear?’ And I just wanted to be there because I knew something big was happening. And I didn’t know how to be there.”

“After a while, I didn’t know how to be there,” Erivo joked, to which Grande continued, “She said something that meant something to her, then it meant something totally different to [Erivo], and then she tried to kind of get somewhere else.”

“The craziest thing was I remember in the moment asking myself, ‘Am I okay? Did I not hear something?’ … because she looks like she was about to cry again,” she added.

Grande then explained why she grabbed Erivo’s finger, which she tapped while holding it.

“I’m going to grab this, because she looks like you might need something,” she recalled to Erivo, before adding, “I don’t know what the tapping was about.”

Erivo joked that it was “tension” that caused her costar to tap on her finger.

She then reacted to Gilchrist saying that she had seen posts about people talking about “holding space” for the lyrics for “Defying Gravity” because she’s in “queer media.”

“I honestly didn’t know what that meant — am I also in queer media, maybe?” Erivo said. “Work! Let’s both be there.”

Ultimately, Grande said that she found the response from the viral interview moment to be “so beautiful.”

“I feel really relieved that the world had the same experience with this moment that I did, because I felt like, ‘Oh, I’m not broken,'” she quipped, to which Erivo added, “[I] do l love how the world as gone with it.”

Grande jokingly added, “The best thing to is to really hold space with that.”

Meanwhile, Gilchrist previously opened up to Variety about her interview becoming a meme, with the journalist explaining what “holding space” means.

“I was very inspired by Tony Morrison, [senior communications director] from GLAAD. He posted the lyrics of ‘Defying Gravity’ before I did my interview. It was a great explainer,” she told Variety. “‘Holding space’ is being physically, emotionally and mentally present with someone or something. For me, it means being in the moment, not being distracted and feeling something on a cellular level.”

“I think you can hold space with lyrics of a song – one you’ve heard hundreds of times – and it can suddenly take on new meaning when you’re a queer person. The Trump administration is targeting LGBTQ+ people via Project 2025,” she continued. “When Cynthia sings ‘I’m through accepting limits,’ there’s power in that. She plays a character who is othered. One who comes to her full power when she is exiled by a charlatan, by a cruel leader. There’s a lot of resonance there right now for anyone who is marginalized. For me, holding space is listening to those lyrics anew and finding solace or inspiration.”