The singer imagines her future children bickering over her will -- only to surprise them by turning her home into a cat sanctuary.
Taylor Swift is poking fun at herself and addressing her biggest insecurities in the new music video for "Anti-Hero," off her newly-released album, Midnights.
Written and directed by Swift, the entertaining video begins with the singer-songwriter seated at a kitchen table as the clock strikes midnight. From there, she runs from "all of the people that I've ghosted" through her own version of a haunted house before being confronted with the true "anti-hero," herself. "I'm the problem, it's me!" a party girl version of Swift declares, eventually schooling herself on taking shots, smashing guitars and a hard life lesson: "Everyone will betray you."
A third Swift enters the storyline, illustrating the lyric, "I'm a monster on the hill, too big to hang out" as -- literally -- a giant version of herself appears and scares away a dinner party of human-sized friends. She's eventually shot with a bow and arrow before covering her wound with a "Vote for Me for Everything" campaign button, while glittery blood can be seen dripping down her shirt.
In a humorous interlude from the song, Swift imagines her own funeral where her hypothetical future children bicker relentlessly over her will -- only to have been cruelly tricked by their famous mother.
"I have this dream my daughter-in-law kills me for the money she thinks I left them in the will," Swift sings. "The family gathers round and reads it and then someone screams out, 'She's laughing up at us from hell.'"
In the hilariously dramatic scene, Mike Birbiglia stars as one of Swift's sons reading her will at her funeral. "It's the worst," he declares, before revealing that Swift had her beach house "turned into a f**king cat sanctuary."
"What?! Cats don't even like the beach!" her daughter-in-law protests, while wearing Swift's own gown from the 2009 Fearless tour.
"To my children I leave... 13 cents," the rest of the will reads as the room devolves into chaos. "P.S. there's no secret encoded message that means something else. Love, Taylor."
Meanwhile, a very-much-alive Swift peeks out from the casket before making an escape.
In promoting the album earlier this month, Swift opened up about the inspiration behind the song.
"'Anti-Hero' is one of my favorite songs I've ever written," she gushed. "I really don't think I've dealt this far into my insecurities in this detail before. 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 I just struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person."
She was quick to add, "Don't feel bad for me, you don't need to."
"But, you know, this song really is a real guided tour throughout all the things I tend hate about myself, we all hate things about ourselves," she continued. "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 gonna, like, be this person. So, yeah, I like 'Anti-Hero' a lot because I think it's really honest."
Swift also shared several behind-the-scenes images on Twitter after the music video's release. "Watch my nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts play out in real time," she teased.
In celebrating the music video's release, Swift also launched the #TSAntiHeroChallenge on YouTube Shorts, encouraging fans to celebrate the traits that make them unique in a fun way. As part of the campaign, fans are encouraged to share short videos illustrating their own anti-heroic traits such as, a press release suggests: snagging the last slice of pizza, clapping at the end of movies, leaving clean laundry in the basket, or even -- as in Swift's personal example -- treating your cats like humans.
Swift revealed on Thursday that she had re-teamed with cinematographer Rina Yang, with whom she previously worked on the "All Too Well" 10-minute short film, for the visual representation of her Midnights album. She offered a sneak peek of what fans can expect in a teaser trailer that debuted during the Thursday Night Football broadcast on Amazon Prime.
Swift moves through something of a fever dream in the lyric-less clip -- dancing, fighting, screaming and singing, closing things out with a flirty wink to the camera.
The teaser's end credits revealed involvement from a slew of actor collaborators, including Haim's Alana Haim, Danielle Haim and Este Haim; producer Jack Antonoff; model Laith Ashley; comedian Birbiglia; Oscar winner Laura Dern; comedian John Early; It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia actor Mary Elizabeth Ellis; glam mogul Pat McGrath and burlesque legend Dita Von Teese.
Midnights, the 32-year-old singer's 10th studio album, was released at the strike of midnight on Oct. 21. For more Swift coverage, click here.
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