Ariana Grande, an acclaimed singer and actress, recently got candid and opened up about the “popular” Wicked meme.
In her interview with Variety magazine, Grande revealed that she “didn’t know” what the phrase “holding space” meant during the viral interview with Cynthia Erivo.
Referring to the interview with Out magazine that went viral after it was posted on Instagram on November 19, the 31-year-old Wicked star quipped, “So I had no idea what any part of it meant.”
She went on to admit by saying, “I didn’t understand the first sentence. And then I definitely didn’t understand what was happening and how you responded,” talking about 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.” Grande added.
For the unversed, while giving an interview to Out magazine, the interviewer informed Grande and Erivo that LGBTQ+ fans were “taking the lyrics of ‘Defying Gravity’ and really holding space with that and feeling power in that.”
Responding emotionally to the comment, Erivo replied, “I didn’t know that was happening,” before the Die for You singer gently held her costar’s finger and long fingernail and tapped it to show support.
Now, recalling that moment and taking into account Erivo’s response, Grande said, “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. 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.”
The Bloodline crooner expanded on this, articulating that she decided to grab Erivo’s finger at that moment “because I [thought] you might need something.”
“And I don’t know what the tapping was about,” Grande continued, to which Erivo jokingly added, “Tension, tension.”
It is pertinent to mention that Wicked: Part One has been released, and Part Two is set to hit theatres on Nov. 21, 2025.
