Background and Release

On August 28, 2022, Taylor announced her tenth studio album, Midnights, set for release on October 21, 2022. Exactly one month later, she began unveiling the track-list in a randomized order through a video series on TikTok, called Midnights Mayhem With Me. It consisted of 13 episodes, with one song revealed in per episode. In the sixth edition on October 3, 2022, Taylor announced the title of the third track as “Anti-Hero”.

On October 16, Taylor posted a short video on her social media that presented a schedule of the days leading up to the album release, entitled “Midnight Manifest”. The sheet specified that a music video for “Anti-Hero” was set to be released the same day as the album. The schedule also mentioned a #TSAntiHeroChallenge on YouTube Shorts. Universal Music Group sent “Anti-Hero” to Italian radio stations on October 21, 2022. Republic Records released it to the US Hot Adult Contemporary radio on October 24, and Contemporary Hit radio on October 25, as the lead single from Midnights.

Lyrical Theme

Driven by drums and shiny synthesizers, “Anti-Hero” was inspired by Taylor’s nightmares, her issues with depersonalization and self-hatred, as well as critiquing her shortcomings and societal pressures. When describing the song, Taylor said:

«'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. You know, I struggle a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanagably sized and not to sound too dark, I struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person...This song really is a guided tour throughout all the things I tend to hate about myself. We all hate things about ourselves, and it’s all those aspects of the things we dislike and like about ourselves that we have to come to terms with if we are going to be this person. Yeah, I like 'Anti-Hero' a lot because I think it’s honest.»

Taylor Swift

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 1]
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 2]
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

[Chorus]
It’s me
Hi
I’m the problem, it’s me (I’m the problem, it’s me)
At tea time
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