Lupita Nyong’o Recalls How Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’ Helped Her

Taylor Swift has helped Lupita Nyong’o in more ways than one. The A Quiet Place: Day One star is opening up about a time she made herself vulnerable in a personal letter to the pop star. 

During an appearance on the latest Hot Ones, Nyong’o rehashed the story of how she managed to secure the rights to use Swift’s “Shake It Off” during a pivotal moment in her 2019 film, Little Monsters. 

“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,” she recalled. “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 said that the opportunity to play the song on camera years later while strumming the ukulele in Little Monsters “meant a lot” to her. Producers, however, were unable to clear the rights to use Swift’s tune. 

“When they came and they told me, ‘Aw, no, we can’t get the rights,’ I decided, OK, I’m going to go, I’m going to make a pitch. I’m going to let Taylor know what this song means to me,” the actress said. 

“I told her that story about how it lifted me from an almost depression and the next thing I knew, it was cleared,” she explained. “I haven’t actually seen her since to thank her for it.” 

Nyong’o then publicly offered her gratitude into the camera — a gesture she did previously offered during an interview with ET at the time the film was released in 2019. 

“I didn’t hear from her personally, but when I heard we got the song, I knew she heard me and I was just so grateful,” Nyong’o told ET’s cameras. “Taylor Swift, thank you so, so, so much. I hope you see the movie and I hope you feel that I took care of your song.”

One thing Nyong’o and Swift do not have in common is a love of cats. While Swift is the loud and proud owner of three cats herself, Nyong’o has admitted that her fear of felines initially kept her from accepting her latest role. 

In A Quiet Place: Day One — the third film in the franchise and a prequel to the 2018 original A Quiet Place — Nyong’o plays Sam, a young woman with a cat named Frodo who gets caught up in an alien invasion of New York City.

“I had to get over my fear of cats to make this movie to begin with,” she told ET at the film’s New York City premiere on Wednesday. “I was very afraid of cats before I made this movie. It’s actually why I hesitated about whether I would accept this role or not because of my fear of cats. I had to get over my fear of cats before I could start this movie. But they were spectacular.”

The 41-year-old star stunned on the red carpet in a Prada jumpsuit with black satin miniskirt and geometric train, telling ET that the look was inspired by her newfound love of kitties. 

“This whole film has opened me up to the feline world, so the catsuit is inspired by that,” Nyong’o said. “Now I’m wearing my cat everywhere I go.”

A Quiet Place: Day One — co-starring Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou and Eliane Umuhire — hits theaters June 28.

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