Taylor Swift Exposes Her Biggest Insecurities In Anti-Hero Music Video
October 21 proved a busy midnight for Taylor Swift. Not only did the pop superstar drop her tenth studio album, "Midnights," but she also surprised and delighted fans with a music video for its first single, "Anti-Hero," and released seven unexpected bonus tracks. Apparently, Swift had a lot to confess with the release of her "dreamiest and most introspective album to date," as American Songwriter put it. In an October 21 Instagram post, Swift explained, "I think of Midnights as a complete concept album, with those 13 songs forming a full picture of the intensities of that mystifying, mad hour," while the seven bonus songs were more "3am tracks."
"Midnights" is definitely sounding like Swift's most vulnerable album yet. Songs like "You're On Your Own, Kid" (Track 5, a spot historically reserved for Swift's most devastating lyrics) and "Mastermind" reveal heartbreaking confessions never heard in her music before. "You're On Your Own, Kid" references Swift's past eating disorder, only previously disclosed in her 2020 Netflix documentary, "Miss Americana." Meanwhile, "Mastermind" resonates with the lonely child in all of us when she sings, per Genius, "No one wanted to play with me as a little kid / So I've been scheming like a criminal ever since / To make them love me and make it seem effortless."
Indeed, "Midnights" is an album that leans heavily into Swift's insecurities, with no song embodying that more than "Anti-Hero." As the track explores Swift's loathsome self-contemplations, its music video packs some brutally honest imagery. Swifties, brace yourselves...
If you need help with an eating disorder, or know someone who is, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).
Taylor Swift confronts her body image struggles
With lyrics like "my depression works the graveyard shift," "Anti-Hero" isn't your average brooding-pop star production — and neither is its music video. Written and directed by Taylor Swift (including the hilariously morbid funeral sketch), the video is ripe with nightmarish surrealism. Opening with Swift puzzling over a plate of two eggs, bacon, and a piece of broccoli, her past "ghosts" begin haunting her. None, however, scares Swift more than herself. As the chorus chimes in, "It's me / Hi / I'm the problem, it's me," per Genius, she opens her door to find a dressed-to-party Swift. From influencing OG-Swift to down back-to-back shots at midnight, to convincing her that "everyone will betray you" (which glammed-up Swift scribbles on a chalkboard), this Party-Swift is a mess.
"Anti-Hero" only cuts deeper and deeper into Swift's self-loathing. As she bemoans insecurities about her 5'11” frame, singing, "Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby / And I'm a monster on the hill / Too big to hang out," a third, giant-sized Swift squeezes through a dining room door to join a social gathering, at which she's decidedly unwanted.
The true shocker of the music video comes in a "Black Swan"-esque scene, in which OG-Swift steps onto a scale only for it to read, "FAT." Party-Swift lurks in the back, taking it all in with an eerie smile. Given that Swift has shared her history of disordered eating in recent years, this scene is undoubtedly the most staunchly candid yet in her musical videography.
If you need help with an eating disorder, or know someone who is, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).