Anti-Hero
Written By Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff
Produced By Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff
About
From Genius, the ultimate source of music knowledge
Track 3 on "Midnights".
Described by Taylor herself as "one of my favorite songs that I have ever written", "Anti-Hero" is the scintillating lead single from Midnights, her tenth studio album. Largely serving as a parallel to 2019's "The Archer", the song shows a darker self-perception from Swift than usual, and goes into detail about what she feels are her personal failures.
The track's title and track number were revealed in the sixth video of her TikTok game Midnight Mayhem With Me on October 2nd, 2022. The next day, Swift released a 'Behind The Song' video to discuss the meaning and purpose behind the track, saying she "struggle[s] a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized", and described the song as a "guided tour" of the things she hates about herself.
On Halloween night of 2022, the song was announced to have debuted at #anti-hero1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Marking her ninth number one single and fifth number one debut, "Anti-Hero" joined nine other songs from Midnights in constructing the entire top 10 - the first time ever in Billboard history.
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
[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 'round 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