Anti-Hero - ILLENIUM Remix

"Anti-Hero" is the lead single from Midnights. Swift said that "self-loathing" partially inspired the album, and this scathing self-examination finds the singer digging into her own paranoia and need for control. "'Anti-Hero,' is one of my favorite songs I've ever written," Swift said during an episode of her TikTok series Midnights Mayhem. "I really 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," she continued in the video. "Not to sound too dark, but I just struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person - don't feel bad for me, you don't need to. But this song really is a real guided tour through all the things I tend to hate about myself; we all hate things about ourselves."

Swift starts the song by blaming herself for not getting enough sleep. She's at her lowest ebb at night and this is when she's feeling most low. 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 On the pre-chorus, she dives into her fear of rejection because of her need for control. I wake up screaming from dreaming One day, I'll watch as you're leaving 'Cause you got tired of my scheming On the hook, Swift acknowledges that she has only herself to blame. It's me Hi I'm the problem, it's me She's unable to confront those issues head-on. I'll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror Those people who stick up for her must get tired of her shortcomings. It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero Swift continues to divulge her insecurities in the second verse. Sometimes, I feel like everybody is a sexy baby And I'm a monster on the hill And on the bridge. I have this dream my daughter-in-law kills me for the money She thinks I left them in the will

Swift wrote and recorded "Anti-Hero" with her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff. The pair laid down much of Midnights at Antonoff's home studio in Brooklyn and at Electric Lady Studio in Greenwich Village. Both of them were dating actors (Swift - Joe Alwyn, Antonoff -Margaret Qualley). The album, said the pop star, "really coalesced and flowed out of us when our partners did a film together in Panama. Jack and I found ourselves back in New York, alone, recording every night, staying up late and exploring old memories and midnights past."