If there’s one thing a Taylor Swift song will do, it’s inspire women everywhere to share their embarrassing relationship struggles.
Although it’s been nearly four weeks since Taylor Swift released her newest album, Midnights, the singer-songwriter is still topping the music charts; she became the first artist to achieve 10 singles in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Not only is Midnights already the best-selling record of the year, but the album has also been dominating everyone’s TikTok feeds.
The latest Taylor Swift track to become a TikTok trend is “Anti-Hero”, the third single off Midnights. In the track, Swings sings the unapologetically honest lyrics, “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.” The song represents Swift’s inner battle with her anxieties and insecurities, as she realises that she may be the anti-hero in her own life.
For people on TikTok, however, the song has allowed them to share moments from their relationship when they were, indeed, the problem.
As the song “Anti-Hero” plays in the background of each TikTok, women lip-sync the lyrics “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me,” revealing how their constant spending is the reason why their husband has no money, or how their trust issues are the real reason why they’re single.
In one video, TikToker Ashley Bell stands on her porch with several packages delivered outside her door. “When he asks why our credit card bills are high,” she wrote.
“When your long distance boyfriend complains that he has no money but it’s because whenever he visits me at uni I act like we are a rich married couple,” said user Demelza May, as she filmed herself and her boyfriend galventing in the street.
Meanwhile, some women are sharing how they were the “problem” in their past relationships.
“When you realise your toxic relationship is no longer toxic because you quit drinking,” one person said.
“Me posting TikToks about texting my ex who wants nothing to do with me,” read another video.
Others have used the trend to explain why they’re not in a relationship yet.
“When you want a girlfriend but you aren’t making an effort and push everyone away,” said TikToker Olivia, while mouthing the lyrics to “Anti-Hero”.
This isn’t the only track off Midnights to receive the TikTok trend treatment. Swift’s song “Mastermind” also inspired women to share how they mind tricked their partners into dating them.
In the song, Swift says: “What if I told you none of it was accidental? And the first night that you saw me, nothing was gonna stop me. I laid the groundwork and then, just like clockwork. The dominoes cascaded in a line. What if I told you I’m a mastermind? And now you’re mine. It was all by design. ‘Cause I’m a mastermind.”
Unsurprisingly, women began sharing their embarrassing relationship stories and how they unconsciously got their partners to ask them out on a date, such as using manifestation techniques, stalking his Facebook page, or memorising his class schedule.
One TikTok read: “When I was 15 there was this cute boy in my class but he was super shy and I was too scared to talk to him but I really wanted to,” started another TikTok from user Rachel. “One day I saw him like a meme on Facebook from this certain TV show that I’d never heard of. I ended up watching the entire TV show in one night so that the next time we were in class together I could subtly make a reference to the show, which led to our first conversation.”
“It’s now seven years later and we’re married,” she said.
Other TikTok users have used the album’s bonus track song, “Bigger Than The Sky”, to share their miscarriage stories. The lyrics for the song goes: “Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye/You were bigger than the whole sky/You were more than just a short time.
“And I’ve got a lot to pine about/I’ve got a lot to live without/I’m never gonna meet/What could’ve been, would’ve been/What should’ve been you.”
While she has not explicitly said that the song references a miscarriage, these trends prove that any Taylor Swift song is worthy of going viral.
