Is the drama? Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” lyrics hint at her past drama with celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Kanye West and the insecurities she’s experienced throughout the rises and falls of her public image.
“Anti-Hero” is the lead single from Swift’s new album, Midnights, which was released on October 21, 2022. Midnights is is Swift‘s 10th album following 2020’s Evermore and Folklore; 2019’s Lover; 2017’s Reputation; 2014’s 1989; 2012’s Red; 2010’s Speak Now; 2009’s Fearless; and her 2006 self-titled debut. Midnights is also Swift’s fourth album with Universal Music Group’s Republic Records, which she signed with in 2018 after she left her former record label, Big Machine Records, after more than a decade with the company.
The album features 13 songs—and seven bonus tracks in the deluxe version, Midnights (3am Edition)—written by Swift and collaborators like Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner and Lana Del Rey. In an Instagram post in October 2022, Swift explained that Midnights was a collection of “stories of 13 sleepless nights” throughout her life. “We lie awake in love and in fear, in turmoil and in tears. We stare at walls and drink until they speak back. We twist in our self-made cages and pray that we aren’t—right this minute—about to make some fateful life-altering mistake,” she wrote. “This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching—hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve…we’ll meet ourselves.”
She continued, “Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, will be out October 21. Meet me at midnight.” Swift also explained in a tweet at the time about how Midnights represented the “highs and lows and ebbs and flows” she’s experienced in her life in the past several years. “Midnights is a collage of intensity, highs and lows and ebbs and flows. Life can be dark, starry, cloudy, terrifying, electrifying, hot, cold, romantic or lonely. Just like Midnights,” she wrote.
But back to Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” lyrics. So…what do Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” lyrics mean and what is the song about? Read on for what we know about the inspiration behind Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” lyrics and why the song is one of her most “honest” tracks yet.
What are Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” lyrics about?
What are Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” lyrics about? “Anti-Hero” is the lead single and third track from Midnights and was written by Swift and Bleachers lead singer Jack Antonoff, who has also co-written songs like “Getaway Car” from Reputation, “Cruel Summer” from Lover, “August” from Folklore, and “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) from Red (Taylor’s Version).
In a video on her Instagram in October 2022, Swift explained that “Anti-Hero” is a “guided tour” of her insecurities and the things she tends to “hate” about herself. “Track three, ‘Anti-Hero,’ is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. I really don’t think I’ve delved this far into my insecurities in this detail before. I struggle a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized,” she said at the time. “Not to sound too dark, but I struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person. Don’t feel bad for me. You don’t need to. This song is a real guided tour throughout the things I tend to hate about myself. We all hate things about ourselves. It’s all of those aspects of the things we dislike and like about ourselves that we have to come to terms with if we’re going to be this person. I like ‘Anti-Hero’ a lot because I think it’s really honest.”
Swift also revealed in a video for Spotify in October 2022 that “self-loathing” was one of the five themes of Midnights, along with fantasizing about revenge, wondering what might’ve been and falling in love. “The first thing that kept me up at night that helped inspired the Midnights album is self-loathing,” she said. An example of this theme is the chorus: “I’ll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror / It must be exhausting, always rooting for the anti-hero.”
Another example is the first verse of “Anti-Hero,” where she references the “depression” she feels around midnight each night: “Midnights become my afternoons / When my depression works the graveyard shift / All of the people I’ve ghosted stand there in the room.” She continues in the pre-chorus, “I should not be left to my own devices / They come with prices and vices / I end up in crisis I’ve realized all this time / I wake up screaming from dreaming / One day I’ll watch as you’re leaving / Cause you got tired of my scheming / For the last time.”
In an interview with Vogue in 2019, Swift opened up about the “public shaming” she experienced after Kim Kardashian’s infamous 2016 Snapchat video of a conversation Swift and Kanye West had over his song “Famous” and its lyrics about Swift. “A mass public shaming, with millions of people saying you are quote-unquote canceled, is a very isolating experience,” Swift said at the time. “I don’t think there are that many people who can actually understand what it’s like to have millions of people hate you very loudly. When you say someone is canceled, it’s not a TV show. It’s a human being. You’re sending mass amounts of messaging to this person to either shut up, disappear, or it could also be perceived as, Kill yourself.”
She continued, “I realized I needed to restructure my life because it felt completely out of control. I knew immediately I needed to make music about it because I knew it was the only way I could survive it. It was the only way I could preserve my mental health and also tell the story of what it’s like to go through something so humiliating.”
Midnights by Taylor Swift is available on Amazon.
Image: Courtesy of Republic Records.
Best Taylor Swift “Anti-Hero” lyrics
“I have this thing where I get older, but just never wiser.”
“When my depression works the graveyard shift, all of the people I’ve ghosted stand there in the room.”
“It’s me, hi. I’m the problem, it’s me.”
“I’ll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror.”
“Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism.”
Image: Courtesy of Republic Records.
Taylor Swift “Anti-Hero” lyrics
[Verse 1]
I have this thing where I get older, but just never wiser
Midnights become my afternoons
When my depression works the graveyard shift, all of the people
I’ve ghosted stand there in the room
[Pre-Chorus]
I should not be left to my own devices
They come with prices and vices
I end up in crisis
(Tale as old as time)
I wake up screaming from dreaming
One day, I’ll watch as you’re leaving
‘Cause you got tired of my scheming
(For the last time)
[Chorus]
It’s me, hi
I’m the problem, it’s me
At teatime, everybody agrees
I’ll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror
It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero
[Verse 2]
Sometimes, I feel like everybody is a sexy baby
And I’m a monster on the hill
Too big to hang out, slowly lurching toward your favorite city
Pierced through the heart, but never killed
[Pre-Chorus]
Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism
Like some kind of congressman?
(A tale as old as time)
I wake up screaming from dreaming
One day, I’ll watch as you’re leaving
And life will lose all its meaning
(For the last time)
[Chorus]
It’s me, hi
I’m the problem, it’s me (I’m the problem, it’s me)
At teatime, everybody agrees
I’ll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror
It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero
Image: Courtesy of Republic Records.
[Bridge]
I have this dream my daughter-in-law kills me for the money
She thinks I left them in the will
The family gathers around and reads it
And then someone screams out
“She’s laughing up at us from hell”
[Breakdown]
It’s me, hi
I’m the problem, it’s me
It’s me, hi
I’m the problem, it’s me
It’s me, hi
Everybody agrees, everybody agrees
[Chorus]
It’s me, hi (Hi)
I’m the problem, it’s me (I’m the problem, it’s me)
At teatime (Teatime), everybody agrees (Everybody agrees)
I’ll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror
It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero
Midnights by Taylor Swift is available on Amazon.
Image: Courtesy of Republic Records.
