Taylor Swift “Anti Hero” Lyrics Meaning {Fully Explained}

Taylor Swift Anti Hero Lyrics Meaning

 

Here is Anti Hero Lyrics meaning as implied by Taylor Swift. A stanza by Stanza analysis of Anti-Hero by Taylor Swift.

 

 

According to Taylor Swift:

I 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, and not to sound too dark, I struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person.

This song really is a real guided tour throughout all of 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. So, yeah, I like “Anti-Hero” a lot because I think it’s really honest.

First, who is an Anti-hero?

Traditionally, an Anti-Hero is someone that lacks the normal qualities of a hero. Such a person does not have what it takes to be the hero, but is still the center of the story.

Less is expected from the Anti-hero and there is a disappointment that sets in because the Anti Hero is still working on herself, she is not here for others.

She is the Anti-hero, she can barely save herself because she lacks the conventional heroic qualities to do so. How then can she save others?

 

Taylor Swift Anti Hero Lyrics Meaning

Anti Hero is a song about depression, Anxiety, Insecurities, and weirdly, an inflated self of sense worth that all combine to make a person feel like people will never look at her the normal way, that they don’t deserve her company and she doesn’t deserve theirs and that life will always be parallel to her because her life is in circles.

There is no change, everything goes round and round.

 

Taylor Swift Anti Hero Lyrics Meaning 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
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) 

Anti Hero lyrics meaning by Taylor swift in verse 1 addresses one of the major things people go through when they have anxiety and depression.

Because everything seems to work in a loop, they never see or understand that they are getting wiser, but they can notice the bodily changes and see that they are getting older.

According to her, she sees physical growth but not a mental shift in her perspective because her life is like a circle. Her midnights are like her morning and everything seems bizarre.

That’s Taylor Swift Anti Hero lyrics meaning based on the first verse

 

Taylor Swift Anti Hero Lyrics Meaning 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

 

Here, Anti Hero lyrics meaning by Taylor Swift conveys a message that she is a victim of her own nature.

Because she can’t stop herself from making schemes and thinking up things that are ridiculous to hear, she says that people shouldn’t leave her alone with her vices because they cause so much crises.

But then again, who would stick with her long enough unless they want to be a victim of the schemes?

She can’t just help it, and no matter how hard she tries, she will always be left to her vices because no one wants to be around her. She is a victim, but she makes others her victim as well.

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Anti-Hero Lyrics Meaning 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
Did you hear my covert narcissism
I disguise as altruism like some kind of congressman?
(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)  

Anti-Hero lyrics meaning in verse 2 hinges on the fact that she will always see herself in light of what she thinks people think about her and not what people actually think about her.

In the music video, we see Taylor crawling out as this huge person and everyone becomes so small. That’s her imagination, and seeing the reaction of the people sitting round the dining table, no one would want to be near her after that and neither would she want to be near people.

Meanwhile, she reveals that this may be because she has that inflated sense of self-worth. She says she thinks she might be a narcissist – that she is better than everyone else and they are not deserving of her company.

It makes sense because she sees others as small while she is just this huge person that lords over them physically and storms their dinner. It would be easier for her to accept that she forgets about people through her disguise of altruism rather than accept that she actually thinks she is better than everyone else.

 

Anti Hero Lyrics Meaning 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!” 

In her dream, she says she thinks her daughter in law kills her with a supposed conviction that she left them some money.

Only for her to be disappointed because at the end of the day, she doesn’t do something that makes everyone satisfied and live happily ever after. She is the Anti-hero, she can barely save herself because she lacks the conventional heroic qualities to do so. How then can she save others?

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About

Anti-Hero” is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It is the third track on Swift’s tenth studio album, Midnights (2022), which was released on October 21, 2022, via Republic Records. Written and produced by Swift and Jack Antonoff, “Anti-Hero” is a pop rock song about self-loathing, depression and anxiety. It will impact US hot adult contemporary radio on October 24 as the lead single from Midnights.

Driven by drums and shiny synthesizers, “Anti-Hero” was inspired by Swift’s nightmares, and issues with depersonalization and self-hatred. It features lyrics that critique Swift’s shortcomings. Music critics reviewed the song positively for its lyricism and instrumentation, with Billboard ranking it as the best song on Midnights.

An accompanying music video for the song premiered on October 21 as well. It depicts Swift’s fears, insecurities, and body dysmorphia, using three different incarnations of her.

The video also reenacts one of her nightmares regarding her legacy and last will, casting Mike Birbiglia, John Early and Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Swift’s future family members.

Anti-Hero” is a pop rock song, with influences of 1980s rock.

It is driven by a methodical drum loop and “simmering” synths.

Its lyrics see Swift self-criticize, calling herself “the problem” and expressing her insecurities and anxiety. In the bridge, she describes one of her nightmares, in which Swift’s daughter-in-law murders Swift to inherit her money.

The lyrics also contain a reference to American sitcom series 30 Rock in the lyric “Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby, and I’m a monster on the hill.”

Stream Anti Hero by Taylor Swift here