When Taylor Swift‘s Midnights dropped in 2022, one of the most-talked-about lyrics came on the second verse of lead single “Anti-Hero.” Two years later, actress Cristin Milioti is addressing whether she might’ve inspired the line in question.
On the track, the pop star sings, “Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby, and I’m a monster on the hill.” And while there were many theories as to what she meant by the term “sexy baby,” one of the most common was that Swift was referencing Milioti’s 30 Rock character, Abby Flynn.
The speculation comes from a scene in which Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon slams Flynn for adopting a “sexy baby” persona to get attention from men. And in a recent interview with SiriusXM, Milioti touched on the possibility of her character — who ultimately has a much more complicated backstory than her air-headed personality suggests at first — giving the 14-time Grammy winner the idea for “Anti-Hero.”
“I gotta say, when that album dropped, my phone really blew up with people asking about that,” Milioti said. “And I don’t know. I mean, in my wildest … that would be such a compliment. I would love that to be true.”
However, the Penguin star shared that she can’t actually say for sure whether 30 Rock served as Swift’s inspiration. “I have no confirmation if it is,” Milioti added.
Though the “sexy baby” impetus remains a mystery, “Anti-Hero” in general examines Swift’s personal fears and insecurities, something she spoke about in October 2022 in an Instagram video shortly before Midnights dropped. “Track three, ‘Anti-Hero,’ is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written,” she said at the time. “I struggle a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized.”
“Not to sound too dark, but I just struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person — don’t feel bad for me, you don’t need to,” she continued. “But this song really is a real guided tour through all the things I tend to hate about myself.”
“Anti-Hero” went on to become the longest-running No. 1 hit of Swift’s career, spending eight weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. Its corresponding music video — which the star self-directed — later took home video of the year at the 2023 VMAs.
Watch Milioti discuss Swift’s “sexy baby” lyric and her original 30 Rock scene below.
