Taylor Swift knows how to hide an easter egg all too well. It’s no surprise that fans were quick to speculate the “Anti-Hero” lyric “sexy baby” is a reference to Cristin Milioti’s 30 Rockcharacter, Abby Flynn.
The line, “Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby, and I’m a monster on the hill” first drew attention upon the Midnights album release in October 2022. In Season 5, Episode 16 of 30 Rock, “TGS Hates Women,” Liz (Tina Fey) hires a female comedian at the show. Instead of helping to fight misogyny in the writer’s room, Liz finds herself annoyed by Abby and tells her to “drop the sexy baby act.” Abby famously responds, “The sexy baby thing isn’t an act… I’m a very sexy baby.”
Milioti has finally commented on the reference. In an appearance this month on SiriusXM’s “The Jess Cagle Show” to promote Milioti’s new series The Penguin, co-host Julia Cunningham recalled the lyric. Cunningham insisted, “That has to be a 30 Rock reference,” to which Milioti responded, “I gotta say, when that album dropped, my phone really blew up with people asking about that, and I don’t know. I mean, in my wildest, that would be a compliment. I would love that to be true. I have no confirmation if it is.”
Swift is no stranger to embedding pop culture references in her songs. Her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, references Dylan Thomas, Patti Smith and Charlie Puth all in the title song. “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys” alludes to Barbie with the lyric, “I felt more when we played pretend than with all the Kens.”
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On the podcast, Milioti also took the time to express her gratitude for her brief time on 30 Rock. “I was a huge 30 Rock fan,” she said. “I would watch that — it’s the show I’ve seen the most. That’s a show I binge if I’m on location somewhere or if it’s like a cold, dark winter. I can watch it over and over and over, and I watched that show in real time every week and was obsessed with that show, and when I got that job, I remember, I mean, I could barely speak. I was so excited.”
Swift has not confirmed or denied the 30 Rock reference.
