Lupita Nyong’o appeared in First We Feast’s newest episode of Hot Ones and experienced a rollercoaster with the varying hot wings that have continued to test guest after guest.
The 41-year-old Kenyan-Mexican actress touched on various topics: acting alongside a cat (with a fear of cats), whether she would fare well during an apocalypse, Jay-Z using her name in a rap song, and Taylor Swift.
The Academy-award winning actress mentioned how when she was working on her film Little Monsters that when producers were unable to clear the rights to use Swift’s tune she would take matters into her own hands.
“When they came and they told me ‘aw, no we can’t get the rights’ I decided okay. 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 and I told her that story about how it lifted me from an almost depression and the next thing I knew, it was cleared.”
She further explained, “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.”
Ultimately, it worked! The song was featured in the film in the horror comedy in 2019. 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 reveals, before she turned to the ET cameras to express her gratitude directly to the singer: “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.”