"It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.” This week, we (finally) go line-by-line through what might be Taylor Swift's most psychologically dense song: “Anti-Hero” from Midnights (2022). From the Hamlet-coded antihero definition, to the “Beauty and the Beast” reference lurking in "tale as old as time," to ghosts and Freud, this song keeps delivering new angles. We each came to the song with our own anxieties, and we leave with three potentially different purposes of this high-anxiety, deeply revealing song.

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Hamlet, William Shakespeare
• Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
• Beauty and the Beast (Disney)
• Dexter (Showtime)
• Younger (Paramount+)
• 30 Rock, "Seinfeldvision" — the "sexy baby" episode
• "Blank Space," 1989 (2014)
• The Miss Americana Documentary (Netflix)
• Lena Dunham's Substack

🔎 In this episode:

Episode Highlights:

[01:34] “Antihero” defined

[05:45] “I have this thing where I get older but just never wiser”

[11:06] "All of the people I've ghosted stand there in the room"

[19:06] "Tale as old as time"

[28:00] “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me”

[38:00] "Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby and I'm a monster on the hill"

[45:00] “Pierced through the heart but never killed”

[55:06] The bridge!

[1:03:00] Purpose of the song “Anti-Hero”

Follow AP Taylor Swift podcast on social!

• TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift
• Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift
• YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift
• Link Tree → linktr.ee/aptaylorswift
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Contact us at aptaylorswift@gmail.com

Affiliate Codes:

Krowned Krystals - krownedkrystals.com use code APTS at checkout for 10% off!

Libro.fm - Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here tinyurl.com/aptslibro

This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

“Seems the only one who doesn’t see your beauty is the face in the mirror looking back at you.”This week, we’re doing a Show and Tell on one of literature’s most enduring symbols: the mirror. From Narcissus to Dorian Gray, Snow White’s magic mirror to Alice Through the Looking Glass, mirrors have long served as devices of identity, vanity, the supernatural, and the soul, and Taylor Swift is no stranger to the motif. We trace mirrors across three songs: Tied Together with a Smile (Taylor Swift, 2006), Begin Again (Red, 2012), and Anti-Hero (Midnights, 2022). Along the way, we explore distorted self-perception and the inner child, the mirror as a post-breakup identity reset, why Taylor would rather stare directly at the sun than face her own reflection, and what social media has to do with all of it. Plus: Dorian Gray, Narcissus, vampires without souls, the Bloody Mary game, and an accidental Justin Timberlake shout-out.

Subscribe for free to get episode updates or upgrade to paid to get our After School premium content:

aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe

After School subscribers get monthly bonus episodes, exclusive content, and early access to help shape future topics!

Stay up to date at aptaylorswift.com

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

Hamlet, William Shakespeare

Alice Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll

Reflection — Mahesh Dattani (Indian play)

Reflection — Mulan (1998 film)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)

Greek Mythology: Narcissus

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Mirror of Erised), J.K. Rowling

Tied Together with a Smile — Taylor Swift (2006)

Begin Again — Taylor Swift, Red (2012)

Anti-Hero — Taylor Swift, Midnights (2022)

• [01:13] Mirrors in literature and the arts: identity, vanity, and the soul
• [09:00] Song 1: Tied Together with a Smile — the fractured self and distorted physical perception
• [23:52] Song 2: Begin Again — “Took a deep breath in the mirror”
• [34:11] Song 3: Anti-Hero — “I’ll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror”

• TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift
• Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift
• YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift
• Link Tree → linktr.ee/aptaylorswift
• Bookshop.org → bookshop.org/shop/apts
• Libro.fm → tinyurl.com/aptslibro

Contact us at aptaylorswift@gmail.com

Krowned Krystals — krownedkrystals.com — use code APTS at checkout for 10% off!

Libro.fm — Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here: tinyurl.com/aptslibro

This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z

“I was ridin’ shotgun with my hair undone,” and the rest is history. This week, we do a full line-by-line deep dive into a classic, “Our Song” (Taylor Swift, 2006). Join us as we discuss the self-referential recursion (she wrote a song about their song, and that song is their song) and the sounds and silences Taylor chose to define a teenage romance. This is Taylor before anyone believed in her, holding the pen, writing herself into her debut album.

For more on "Our Song" in the context of Taylor's full debut album, become a paid subscriber at aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe — we go deep on the album in our After School series.

📩 Want more? Subscribe to our Substack for free to read our Extra Credit essays: aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe. For more on "Our Song" in the context of Taylor's full debut album, become a paid subscriber— we go deep on the album in our After School series and give you exclusive content, and early access to help shape future topics!

🎧 Listen to APTS on all platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Podbean

Mentioned in this episode:

“Replay,” Zendaya

“Replay,” Iyaz

“Your Song,” Elton John

Inception, 2010

Mean Girls, 2004

“God is a DJ,” Pink

American Beauty, 1999

Inferno, Dante Alighieri

The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer

Harry Potter, JK Rowling

***

Episode Highlights

• [03:40] A song about a song
• [11:02] "Baby" - a term of endearment
• [22:55] The "Replay" Era
• [30:29] A very short, very dramatic bridge
• [37:01] She is the writer

📲 Follow AP Taylor Swift podcast on social!

• TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift
• Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift
• YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift
• Link Tree →linktr.ee/aptaylorswift
• Bookshop.org → bookshop.org/shop/apts
• Libro.fm → tinyurl.com/aptslibro

Contact us at aptaylorswift@gmail.com

Featured in Axios Indianapolis.

#TaylorSwift #OurSong #TaylorSwiftLyrics #LiteraryAnalysis #SwiftieTok #TaylorSwiftDeepDive

Affiliate Codes:

Krowned Krystals - krownedkrystals.com use code APTS at checkout for 10% off!

Libro.fm - Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here tinyurl.com/aptslibro

This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.