by Despite being released just a day ago, midnights, Taylor Swift’s tenth studio album is a critical and commercial success. While songs like “Lavender Haze” and “Sweet Nothing” are about love and revenge, “Anti-Hero” sees Swift fight against herself. So she, of course, she has created a ruckus on the Internet.
As the lead single from midnights, “Anti-Hero” deals with Swift’s insecurities and anxieties in life both in public and in private. The song itself has been described as a collision of synthpop, neurotic imagery analysis, and dense lyricism tied together by “a methodical drum loop” and “slow-burning synths”. The track is depressingly relatable, as Swift deals with the fear of nothing, the anxiety of everything, and doubting those she trusts the most.
Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ is here. Let’s talk about those fan theories.
On Instagram, Swift called the song her favorite from the album. “This song really is a real walkthrough through all the things I tend to hate about myself. We all hate things about ourselves,” she said. “So yeah, I really like ‘Anti-Hero’ because I think it’s really honest.”
Swifties and pop fans alike have spent countless hours analyzing every line and phrase in “Anti-Hero” (and we’re not even including the music video, which is riddled with easter eggs). Each lyrical performance paints a different picture, depending on who you’re talking to, what app you’re on, and how much Taylor Swift lore you already know. So, to help anyone who’s not in the know, we’ve compiled the internet’s best (and most popular) takes on the most confusing lines from “Anti-Hero.”
I got this thing where I get older but never wiser
Does old age imply maturity? Swift doesn’t feel this is the case for him. According to Twitter users well-versed in Swift lore, this is a sentiment Swift has expressed for years in her music. In the 2019 song “Archer,” Swift sings “I never grew up, it’s getting so old.”
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The tweet may have been deleted
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Critics have in the past called the singer’s actions “immature” and “mean” after the release of her 2017 single “Look What You Made Me Do.” One reviewer described the song as “the ramblings of a spurned teenage girl on the warpath”.
It’s me, hello / I’m the problem, it’s me
Addressing the choir is the lyric that will dominate your Tiktok feed for the next few weeks. Opinions on the correct interpretation of this line differ depending on the listener’s perspective. For some, the lyrics are the intrusive thoughts of Swift, who knows that she is the problem and that she is actually the antihero. She says later in the chorus, “It must be tiring always rooting for the antihero.”
Taylor Swift’s ‘Anti-Hero’ Video Is A Vulnerable Representation Of The Inner Critic
The statement is later repeated at the end of the track, however the voice suggests that she is exhausted from always having to admit that she is the problem.
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The tweet may have been deleted
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For context, the running joke on the internet is that for every breakup Swift has, she writes an album about the relationship. Swift has had many relationships with celebrities in the past, and at times, she is unfairly and extremely criticized for her love life and for using that as material for her songs.
As probably the most relatable line on the track for many, Twitter users are letting it be known that they don’t appreciate Swift calling them that.
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Sometimes I feel like everyone’s a sexy baby
This is the line that has confused the Internet the most. When you first hear it, it’s weird, jarring and comes out of nowhere. Social media users have defended him, pointing out that the line and subsequent lyric “And I’m a monster on the hill / Too big to hang out, tumbling slowly towards your favorite city” is a comment on the sexualization of youth and innocence.
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The “sexy baby” lyrics themselves are a possible reference to this scene in 30 rock as Twitter user @parkersrodrigo points out. In the episode titled “TGS hates womenLiz Lemon (Tina Fey) hires a writer named Abby (Cristin Milioti) to join the TGS staff with Tracy Jordan. However, after the meeting, Lemon accuses Abby of acting like a “sexy babe” to get the attention of men.
While it may or may not be a direct reference, the tragic idea that men take advantage of young women and only value them for their attractiveness, which in turn causes self-esteem issues in young women who try to appease the male gaze, is still present. Reddit users on the r/TaylorSwift subreddit also agree:
I have this dream, my daughter-in-law kills me for the money / She thinks I left them in the will / The family gets together and reads it…
This is perhaps the most talked about lyrics on the entire album.
Fans have noted a striking similarity between these bridge words from the song and the 2019 film. knives out. The image of an alleged reading of the will gone wrong is repeated in the scene of the reading of the will in knives out.
However, even though the music video expands on what Swift meant by her dream, some fans have their own ideas about who exactly Swift’s dream daughter-in-law is:
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It’s a pretty fitting summary of the reaction to the album as a whole. These lyrics are definitely about Swift herself, but maybe, just maybe, we fans fit in there too.
