Featured Image Credit: OUT
Topics: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Film and TV, Music, Celebrity, Social Media
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Film and TV, Music, Celebrity, Social Media
A new interview with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo is doing the rounds online for all the wrong reasons.
Erivo and Grande have been all over the news of late ahead of the release of Wicked, which hits theaters today (November 22).
'One Last Time' hitmaker Grande stars as Glinda in the film, while Erivo plays Elphaba.
The pair have done dozens of interviews, and in one conversation Grande became emotional while talking about her recent name change.
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We all know and love the singer as Ariana Grande, but the credits for Wicked read Ariana Grande-Butera as she's added her father's surname to hers.
When asked about how her father reacted to the news, Grande said he cried.
"And, you know, that was my name when I first saw Wicked and I do feel, not to sound like a broken record, but I do feel like this role and this project helped me sort of come home to little Ari," she continued, while tearing up herself.
"Maybe little pieces of her got lost along the way."
For anyone who has watched any of Grande and Erivo's joint interviews, or seen them in photographs on the red carpet, you'll know that the two stars are seemingly very close and are often spotted holding hands.
This is something people have noticed in their chat with Out.
Elsewhere the unusual line of questioning and Erivo's response to one of them has left people baffled.
The interviewer said to the Harriet actress: "I've seen this week that people are taking the lyrics of 'Defying Gravity' and really holding space with that and feeling power in that.
"Would you touch on that moment in the film Elphaba has been banished and yet she comes into her full power at that moment of the worst time?"
Responding as if she didn't know quite what to say, Erivo replied: "I didn't know that that was happening... that's really powerful. That's what I wanted."
Looking longingly at Grande who squeezes her co-star's hand, Erivo went on: "I think it's really important in that moment to not allow the things that have hurt her, that have stripped her of her humanity, to keep her down."
The whole thing has left people with more questions than they probably started with.
"A couple posts of people holding space for the lyrics and feeling power in that? What does that even mean," one person pondered on Twitter.
"Wtf does holding space mean," echoed a different social media user.
"I don't think Ariana and Cynthia understand what she is saying either honestly," suggested a third.
Someone else questioned: "Wtf is the context what’s happening."
Elsewhere someone called the clip the 'funniest thing [they've] seen for a while'.
UNILAD has contacted Grande and Erivo's reps for comment.