Taylor Swift Says 'Midnights' Track 'Anti-Hero' Is an 'Honest' Exploration of Her 'Insecurities'

"I really don't think I've delved this far into my insecurities in this detail before," said Swift in a video uploaded to Instagram on Sunday

Taylor Swift Says 'Midnights' Track 'Anti-Hero' Is an 'Honest' Exploration of Her 'Insecurities'
Taylor Swift. Photo: Taylor Swift/Instagram

Taylor Swift's clock is counting down to Midnights, and she's clueing fans into what they can expect from the album.

In a video posted to Instagram on Sunday, the 32-year-old singer-songwriter spoke about a song from her upcoming tenth original studio album called "Anti-Hero," inspired by her "insecurities" and feelings of self-hatred.

After announcing the song's title as part of her ongoing Midnights Mayhem with Me series on TikTok, Swift took to Instagram and shared more about the track, describing it as "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," she said in the clip. "You know, I struggle a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized, and that I, you know… not to sound too dark, but, like, I struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person."

She then chuckled through a tongue-in-cheek crying motion and clarified, "But don't feel bad for me. You don't need to."

"This song is a real guided tour throughout all the things that I tend to hate about myself," continued the 11-time Grammy winner. "We all hate things about ourselves, and 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."

In addition to to "Anti-Hero," Swift has revealed five tracks from a total of 13 songs on the standard version of the album: "Maroon," "Midnight Rain," "Vigilante S---" and "Mastermind." The Target-exclusive deluxe version of Midnights will feature another original track as well as two remixes.

Earlier this month, Swift launched Midnights Mayhem with Me, a TikTok series of videos — each uploaded at midnight — in which she announces the title of one track from the album. The series finds her using a bingo roller machine filled with small, white Ping-Pong balls labeled to match each of the album's 13 tracks.

In the first clip, Swift acknowledged that she is attempting to "defy that" habit of using hidden clues to tease previous releases in the video, which shows the star appearing in front of a brown velvet curtain backdrop with a matching blazer and golden bingo roller set to what sounds like elevator music.

"I'm going to be using this technologically advanced device to help me allow fate to decide exactly what track titles I'm going to be announcing and in what order," Swift said in the video, motioning toward the bingo roller cage. "In this cage are 13 Ping-Pong balls labeled 1 through 13, each representing a track on the Midnights album. So, let's leave it up to fate."

Swift rolled the metal contraption over four times before a ball rolled out, meaning the first revealed track would be number 13 — which she's used heavily throughout her career and long considered her lucky number, partially because she was born on Dec. 13.

"Track 13 is called 'Mastermind,'" the artist revealed, speaking the song's title into a bright red landline phone that modulated her voice as the video ended.

Midnights is expected to release on Friday, Oct. 21.

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