The Oscars. The Met Gala. Olympic Games. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo have gone all out to promote the upcoming “Wicked” film, donning an entire wardrobe of pink and green outfits. However, one of their interviews with Out magazine seemed to defy gravity in an unexpected way.
In a snippet of the recorded chat, reporter Tracy E. Gilchrist shared with the “Wicked” cast a finding she’s noticed among gay fans about the Broadway musical-turned-movie’s theme song: “I’ve seen this week people are taking the lyrics of ‘Defying Gravity’ and really holding space with that and feeling power in that.”
To which Erivo remarked, “I didn’t know that was happening,”
“I’ve seen it, yeah,” agreed Gilchrist.
A quiet “That’s really powerful,” Erivo murmured. “That s what I wanted.”
Erivo paused for a moment before repeating, “I didn’t know that was happening.”
“I’ve noticed it on a few posts,” Gilchrist said with a shrug. I’m in LGBT media, but I’m not sure how common that is.
Grande remained silent but gave Erivo a sign of approval and reached over to take her pointer finger, which she held onto the entire time. A somber string rendition of the song played softly over the video of the, at times, socially fragile interaction.
Thecliphas been seen over 2 million times on Instagram since the LGBTQ magazine posted it last week. Somewhat inexplicably, it has elicited a tsunami of memes on social media.
In a meme heposted to Xon Friday, Vanity Fair staff writer Chris Murphy poked fun at both the viral interview and internet punching bag Carrie Bradshaw, the main character of the hit HBO show “Sex and the City.”
The meme shows the tragically romantic Bradshaw, a writer, typing on her laptop and reads: I couldn t help but wonder… if Big could hold space for the lyrics of Defying Gravity, why couldn t he hold space for me?
The official X accounts forMerriam-Websterand New York City sEmpire State Buildingalso weighed in on the matter.
“The 103rd floor of the Empire State Building was originally built to hold space for the lyrics of Defying Gravity,” the account for the iconic art deco building posted Saturday. (The building only has 102 floors.)
And on Sunday, the New York City Gay Men s Chorus shared a video on TikTok and Instagram, showing dozens of its members singing and harmonizing to what appears to be a song made out of quotes from the interview.
Really holding space with that and feeling power in that. Really holding space with that and feeling power in that, the men sang. I ve seen it on a couple of posts, I don t know how widespread it is, but you know I am in queer media.
The viral interview managed to also grab the attention of traditional media.
ABC News’ “The View” dedicated an entire panel Tuesday to dissecting the viral clip and the cultural moment it is arguably spawning.
Are we supposed to hold space for Trump supporters now? co-host Joy Behar joked.
Gilchrist said in an interview that she was shocked by the response.
“In a meeting, someone said that I am a meme now, and I was like, ‘What?’ So, I had no idea,” she said. Later, “I was at lunch with a friend and my phone, everything just started blowing up.”
Within the last week, search interest for “holding space” was beating out the newly declared word of the year “demure,” according to Google Trends. Gilchrist said the term originated from a friend.
For me, holding space means being in the moment, taking time to really listen, to be in a conversation, Gilchrist said. The irony is, to me, holding space is not being immersed in the internet.
Gilchrist said she believes the viral moment was a result of having built a rapport with Erivo from aprior storythis year and because it occurred in the days after the election.
“She knew what I meant. Ariana knew what I meant,” Gilchrist said. “And I think because it was in the wake of the election, it was serious.”
It s funny because that s kind of the definition of high camp. Camp is sincere. Real camp is sincere, Gilchrist added. It s campy the way it all happened and it s authentic.
Neither Grande nor Erivo has commented on the viral interview publicly. However, Grande sent Out a laughing emoji in response to an Instagram story the magazine posted about the viral interview, Gilchrist said.
The musical “Wicked” hit Broadway in 2003 and was an adaptation of the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” which was based off of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel and later film “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”
Thefilm adaptation of “Wicked”by Universal Pictures was made in two parts, with the first part having premiered Friday and the second part to be released in November of next year. (Comcast is the parent company of both NBC News and Universal Pictures.)
Gilchrist said that “Wicked” resonates with queer people because the story of Erivo’s green-skinned character, Elphaba, “is the story of an ‘other,’ someone who is treated differently because of something that is innate.”
The song “Defying Gravity” is about a decision facing Elphaba to either join forces with Oz’s tyrannical Wizard or follow her heart and challenge authority. In the finale of part one, fans find out whether Elphaba decides to “hold space” for her values.
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