Doechii approves Penn Badgley’s “Anxiety” dance during his "spirit tunnel" moment

Doechii is currently living her best, and she’s bringing fans along for the ride. The rapper recently showed her love for You star Penn Badgley, who pulled off a high-energy take on her signature Anxiety dance during his appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show this week.

On Wednesday, April 25, Badgley danced through J-Hud’s backstage “spirit tunnel” while promoting the fifth and final season of the critically acclaimed show, which premiered on Netflix on April 24, 2025.

As he made his exit, the choir switched up the lyrics. Instead of singing—

“Somebody’s watching me, it’s my anxiety”

—they belted out:

“Somebody’s watching me, it’s Penn Badgley”

Following the viral moment, Doechii gave the mini-performance her stamp of approval, commenting on Instagram with:

“Exactlyyyy”

Her viral Anxiety choreo is still going strong. Earlier this month, LISA (BLACKPINK) and her White Lotus castmates also jumped on the trend, sharing their version of the challenge on TikTok.

Anxiety has been a massive hit for Doechii, especially after it peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, her first-ever top 10 single.

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Doechii sampled on Westside Gunn’s track Egypt

Beyond her viral moves, Billboard’s 2025 Woman of the Year has also been making noise in the music world.

Doechii was recently sampled by Westside Gunn on Egypt, the final track of his new EP The Heels Have Eyes. The sample features a snippet from her Apple Music interview with Ebro Darden, where she talked about her musical inspirations:

“One-hundred percent/ You know, recently I’ve been into a lot of MF DOOM (OK)/ Rest in peace (Yup)/ I’ve been into a lot of MF DOOM, um/ Westside Gunn (Mhm), love him, he’s so talented (Super)/ So incredible.”

Doechii also lends her voice to the outro of Egypt, rapping,

“I just feel like, I just feel like the underdog (Mmm)/ Feel like the underdog and I just feel like, ‘Stop playin’ with me.’”

Her excitement over the feature was clear. On X (formerly Twitter), Doechii shared:

“Westside Gunn just sampled me so pretty much kiss the blackest part of my a– and choke on a side ways d**k! He snapped omg.”

She later shared a video on Instagram Stories, wherein she was vibing and screaming with joy as the track played.

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Doechii credits SZA’s Ctrl for helping her leave a creatively stifling relationship

Doechii’s approval for Penn Badgley’s dance came shortly after she showed love for SZA’s 2017 album Ctrl. In her recent Cosmopolitan cover story, the rapper revealed that the album gave her the courage to walk away from a relationship that was stifling her creativity, sharing:

“I only felt that way once. I was 18, and I was dating a guy who just wasn’t very supportive of my music, and it really stifled me. I stopped writing because he was just like, “That’s not cool.” I took his opinion way too seriously when really he just didn’t get it.

Thanks to SZA’s groundbreaking album, Doechii found the strength to move forward.

“I remember listening to SZA’s Ctrl for the first time and it literally gave me the courage to break up with him. I only bring that up because she inspired me to be vulnerable through my music in a way that I didn’t think I could be.”