Taylor Swift and Cynthia Erivo recreate ‘Holding Space’ meme at 2025 Grammys
Taylor Swift and Cynthia Erivo are Holding Space for the Holding Space meme. (Getty)
Taylor Swift has held space for the “Holding Space” meme at the 2025 Grammy Awards, recreating the now iconic Wicked press tour moment with star Cynthia Erivo.
We’ve seen it, yeah, and it’s really powerful.
“Fortnight” hitmaker Taylor Swift sat next to Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo at the 67th Grammy Awards ceremony, with the duo seen laughing and chatting as the awards commenced.
In addition to hugging and having a chat, Swift and Erivo took a moment to pay homage to the wildly viral “Holding Space” meme which Erivo helped originate back in November.
As Grammys host Trevor Noah addressed the camera, Erivo was seen holding out her finger, with Swift laughing as she grabbed the tip of it. They then erupted into giggles.
HELP?!? TAYLOR SWIFT JUST TRIED HOLDING SPACE FOR THE LYRICS OF DEFYING GRAVITY WITH CYNTHIA ERIVO AT THE #GRAMMYs 😭😭😭😭😭😭
— The Eras Tour (@tswifterastour) February 3, 2025
pic.twitter.com/Pa7fgvuL9j
The “Holding Space” meme took over the zeitgeist at the end of last year, after Tracy E. Gilchrist, a journalist for Out magazine, told Erivo during an interview that she had seen fans “holding space” for the lyrics of Wicked song, “Defying Gravity”.
“This week, people are taking the lyrics to ‘Defying Gravity’ and really holding space with that and feeling power in that,” she told Erivo and her co-star, Ariana Grande.
“Uh, I didn’t know that that was happening,” Erivo responded, becoming teary-eyed at the thought.
“I’ve seen it, yeah,” Gilchrist uttered.
“That’s… really powerful,” Erivo continued. “That’s what I wanted.”
taylor and cynthia recreating the holding space finger meme 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/Jv4sYOEJX2
— Zain (@cowboylikezain) February 3, 2025
Grande, seemingly unaware of what “holding space” meant, but aware that Erivo was feeling emotional over the fact, used her thumb and finger to cling onto the tip of Erivo’s finger.
The confusing yet endearingly earnest moment swiftly took over the internet, with fans attempting to work out what “holding space” involved.
Both Grande and Erivo later admitted to not really knowing what Gilchrist was saying.
Swift has added herself to a fairly long list of celebrities who have acknowledged the meme, including A Complete Unknown stars Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning.
Grammy viewers have responded with glee at seeing Swift and Erivo re-enact the clip.
“HELP?!? TAYLOR SWIFT JUST TRIED HOLDING SPACE FOR THE LYRICS OF DEFYING GRAVITY WITH CYNTHIA ERIVO AT THE #GRAMMYs,” shouted one person online.
“This IS queer media,” added another.
“THIS IS SO ICONIC,” a third confirmed.
Taylor Swift is nominated for six awards at the 2025 Grammys, including the leading Album of the Year accolade.
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