Details You Missed in the Music Video
Swift's ghosts represent pieces of her past.
"When my depression works the graveyard shift, all of the people / I've ghosted stand there in the room," Swift sings in the first verse of "Anti-Hero."
In the music video, these people show up in Swift's house as cartoonish ghosts — people with bed sheets draped over their heads — surrounded by tokens from Swift's past.
One ghost dons a cowboy hat, perhaps representing her country-music era or personifying the character she plays in "Cowboy Like Me," the 11th track on "Evermore." He sits in front of wallpaper that's covered in daisies, a likely nod to "Don't Blame Me," the fourth track on "Reputation" ("I once was poison ivy, now I'm your daisy").
Another ghost wears the red heart-shaped sunglasses from the "22" music video while sipping an amber liquid. This could be a reference to "Gorgeous" ("Whiskey on ice, Sunset and Vine") or "Getaway Car" ("I knew it from the first Old Fashioned, we were cursed"), both tracks from "Reputation."
This ghost also wears a leafy wreath around its head, a symbol that's typically associated with Ancient Greece.
In the song's chorus, Swift sings, "I'll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror." She seems to make reference to Icarus, a tragic figure in Greek mythology who flew too close to the sun, burnt his wings, and crashed to his death — falling victim to his own ego.
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