Lupita Nyong’o credits Taylor Swift with getting her through a tough time.

On First We Feast’s Hot Ones, the Oscar winner, 41, told host Sean Evans about asking the pop superstar for permission to use the song “Shake It Off” in one of her movies.

When the producers of the 2019 comedy-horror film Little Monsters told Nyong’o they “can’t get the rights” to the 2014 hit tune, “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 revealed.

“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,” said Nyong’o as she ate hot wings. “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 get me into better spirits.”
The upbeat song worked its magic, as Nyong’o recalled. “We just jumped on my bed and we just danced and danced, and it lifted my spirits.”

Lupita Nyong’o in ‘Little Monsters’.
Neon / courtesy Everett Collection

Little Monsters, written and directed by Abe Forsythe, stars Nyong’o as Miss Audrey Caroline, a school teacher who must protect her young students from a zombie invasion. The character plays the ukulele and sings songs like “Shake It Off” to keep the children calm amid chaos.

In her pitch to Swift, 34, the Black Panther star “told her that story about how it lifted me from an almost depression,” Nyong’o told Evans, 38. “And the next thing I knew, it was cleared.”

Plus, she added, “I haven’t actually seen her since to thank her for it.”

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Lupita Nyong’o on ‘Hot Ones’.
first we feast

As Nyong’o mentioned during the June 20 episode of Late Night with Seth Myers, she has in fact encountered Swift — but from afar, in concert for the Eras Tour. After straining her vocal cords and developing a polyp while voicing the lead character in the animated film The Wild Robot, she didn’t let her inability to speak interfere with enjoying Swift’s epic show.
“You had to wear a note that said, ‘I am on a vocal rest,’ ” Seth Meyers said. “Yeah, I made that at home,” the Us star replied.

Nyong’o stars in the horror prequel A Quiet Place: Day One in theaters Friday, June 28.