The song serves as the climax of the play's first act, in which Elphaba realizes the truth about the Wizard of Oz and vows to fight him, beginning her evolution into the "Wicked Witch of the West".

It has been covered and reinterpreted numerous times, including by the cast of Glee and for the 2024 film adaptation of the musical starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

During the song, Elphaba enchants a broomstick to levitate and, pursued by the Wizard's guards, rises above the angered citizens of Oz, who try in vain to "bring her down."

Both the platform and restraints were concealed by a long false dress made of the same material as the actress's costume, which gave the illusion that she wasn't standing on anything.

[5] Another article in Vulture described it as the "big, belt-y centerpiece of the show", and felt it had since established an "ambivalent legacy" as the "silliest, most inspiring, most enduring song in recent Broadway history".

"Leve uden tyngdekraft"[17] "To Live Without Gravity" Idina Menzel, having reprised her role as Elphaba in the London production of Wicked in 2006, recorded a remixed "pop mainstream" version of the song.

The remix of "Defying Gravity" was also the anthem at the 2007 Gay Pride Parade and Festival in Los Angeles, and appears on the official CD from the event.

It first featured in the series' ninth episode "Wheels" in 2009, where Rachel (Lea Michele) and Kurt (Chris Colfer) sing it separately in a competition for the lead solo.

"[32] Colfer stated that the opportunity to finally sing the song "really meant the world" to him, and that: "It's absolutely terrifying to watch yourself do something you've dreamed about for such a long time.

The climactic shot of the film's sequence when Elphaba does the cry while high up in the sky at sunset pays homage to the "cherry picker effect" used in the stage show with her cape growing much larger in size, billowing in the wind.

He noted that the instrumental was largely unchanged from the original, leaving Erivo to put her own stamp on the song "in a way that makes you feel as though you’re hearing it for the first time."

Daw praised her "awe-inspiring dexterity" in traversing her vocal range and letting the full set of emotions be heard through her voice, "wringing out every note for all it is worth" in the song's infamous bridge and battle cry.

[50] Lisa Laman of Looper named it one of the best movie scenes of 2024, writing "Lengthier pauses are incorporated throughout the song to allow Elphaba and Glinda more time to interact.

Where "Defying Gravity" really soars in its new qualities, though, is a segment in which Elphaba falls to the ground in Emerald City after she first attempts to fly, as past negative comments from others race through her mind.

"[51] On November 21, 2024, a clip from the press tour interview in which the journalist Tracey E. Gilchrist told Erivo and Grande that viewers were "holding space" for the lyrics of "Defying Gravity" went viral, creating multiple memes.