Lupita Nyong’o showed love to Taylor Swift as she recalled how the pop superstar’s music helped her during a difficult period in her life.
The Academy Award winner told Sean Evans, host of First We Feast’s popular YouTube series “Hot Ones,” that she got in touch with Swift after producers couldn’t clear the rights to “Shake It Off” for her 2019 film “Little Monsters.” (First We Feast and HuffPost share a parent company, Buzzfeed Inc.)
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“When I was working in London on ‘Star Wars,’ I was going through a lot of self-doubt because it was the second thing I had done,” explained Nyong’o, who stars in “A Quiet Place: Day One.”
She continued, “I was getting a little depressed. My best friend came to London, and Taylor had just released ‘Shake It Off,’ and he played it for me to like get me into better spirits, and we just jumped on my bed, and we just danced and danced, and it lifted my spirits.”
Nyong’o has previously revealed how the song helped her through a “hard time professionally” at the time and, in a 2019 interview with USA Today, described the track as an “anthem” of hers.
“That’s one of the reasons why my interest was piqued in this movie when I read the script, because I was like, ‘Someone else who loves ‘Shake It Off’ just as much as I do!” she said of Abe Forsythe’s “Little Monsters,” a film where she plays Miss Audrey Caroline and performs the Swift number on a ukulele.
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The Oscar winner told Evans that she decided to reach out to Swift after producers informed her that they couldn’t clear the rights to the song.
“I’m gonna go make a pitch, I’m gonna let Taylor know what this song means to me, and I told her that story about how it lifted me from an almost depression,” recalled Nyong’o, who made friendship bracelets before attending a stop on Swift’s Eras Tour last year.
“And the next thing I knew, it was cleared.”
She went on to note that she hadn’t seen Swift in years and later thanked the singer for giving her seal of approval.
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