Topics: Ariana Grande, Celebrity, TV And Film, Social Media
I'm sure, by now, we've all seen the countless press tour videos of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo promoting their smash-hit musical film, Wicked.
The pair, who star as Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba Thropp respectively, went viral following their interview with Out reporter, Tracey E. Gilchrist, which saw her telling Erivo about the reception that one of the film's most famous tracks, 'Defying Gravity', received online.
In their chat, Gilchrist explained: "I've seen this week people are taking the lyrics of 'Defying Gravity' and really holding space with that and feeling power in that."
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Erivo then reacted with an expression of shock, with Grande reaching across and taking hold of her fingers for support.
"I didn't know that that was happening," she replied. "That's really powerful. That's what I wanted. I didn't know that was happening."
The journalist then clarified: "I've seen it on a couple of posts - I don't know how widespread - but I am in queer media."
"That's really cool," Erivo added.
Alongside the viral 'holding space' interview, the celebrity pair have generally been fairly emotional throughout the promoting process and often breaking down in tears with Grande now sharing her brutal one-word response to the situation.
Speaking to Gladiators 2 star, Paul Mescal, for Variety’s Actors on Actors, Grande reflected on her friendship with Erivo, calling her co-star a 'brilliant gift of a human being'.
"I’m watching you guys on the press tour. You’re obviously in love with each other," Mescal joked to which Grande responded, "Insufferable."
She added: "Yes. We’re horrible. It’s bad."
Explaining her and Erivo's dynamic further, Grande shared: "We tried to keep the pressure out of the room as much as possible."
She also added that she and her co-star 'never chemistry read together', adding: "I did three rounds, reading with two different actresses, and on the last day, I stayed for three and a half hours. I cried so much.
"We did 'Popular', 'Defying Gravity' and 'For Good' - I left my lashes on the mirror, because I left everything else in that room."
Both Grande and Erivo have since addressed the 'holding space' hullaballoo in a recent interview with Variety in yet another rib-tickling video, which has itself gone viral.
"I didn't understand the first sentence," Grande confessed, addressing reporter Gilchrist's initial mention of viewers 'holding space'.
Then, pointing to Erivo, she added: "And then I definitely didn't understand what was happening - how you responded. I was like, 'Oh, what did she say? And what did you hear?'.
"And I just wanted to be here because I knew something big was happening, and I didn't know how to be there."
Erivo then chimed in to admit: "After a while, I didn't know how to be there."
Grande then reverted back to the journalist: "She said something that meant something to her, it meant something totally different to you [Cynthia], and then she tried to get somewhere else.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo discuss the viral “Holding Space” moment in recent Wicked interview. pic.twitter.com/kdbULBcwgB
— wicked news hub (@wickednewshub) December 7, 2024
"And the craziest thing was, I remember, in the moment asking myself, 'Am I okay? Did I not hear something?'. Because she [Cynthia] looked like she was about to cry again, and I'm going to grab this [her finger] because I think you might need something.
"I don't know what the tapping was about," Grande noted, before Erivo suggested: "The tension?"
Erivo then addressed the interviewer's explanation: "She's said that she'd seen it [people holding space] because she was in the queer media.
"I honestly didn't know what that meant, and, am I also in queer media? Work! Let's both be there."
Interjecting again, Grande added: "It was so beautiful, I'm just glad - 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."
"I do love how the world has, like, gone with it," Erivo lastly added.
