Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo talk about the viral ‘holding space’ moment in a new interview

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo provided no shortage of fun moments during the press tour Bad. One of the most notable moments came from their interview with Out magazine’s Tracy E. Gilchrist, who surprised the two women by telling them that she had seen people on social media “saving space” for the lyrics of the climactic musical song of the movie. , “Defying Gravity.” The conversation became the origin of a viral meme as people joked about what it meant to “hold space” for a song that’s been out for more than two decades.

In the original clip, Grande and Erivo seemed surprised by the severity of what they were just told. In a new interview with Varietythey revealed that their reaction was mainly confusion.

“I didn’t know what some of it meant,” Grande says in the newly released clip as director Jon M. Chu laughs in the background. “I didn’t understand the first sentence, and then I certainly didn’t understand how you responded,” she says, pointing to Erivo. Grande explains that she just wanted to be there for her friend because “something big was happening,” so she grabbed Erivo’s index finger to comfort her because she looked like she was about to cry.

Erivo said that she too was a little confused after a few minutes of the original interview. “She said she saw it because she was in queer media,” Erivo said in the clip. “I honestly didn’t know what that meant, and am I also in queer media? Work. Let’s both be there.”

At the same time, Grande wholeheartedly agrees with her.

The clip ends with Grande and Erivo agreeing that the moment they shared was “beautiful” and Grande saying she felt “really relieved that the world had the same reaction I did in this moment.”