Taylor Swift's 'Anti-Hero' Music Video Easter Eggs Are Numerous and Wild

When musician Taylor Swift puts out an album, fans can always anticipate some sort of visual full of Easter eggs to follow. Her latest release, "Midnights," is no exception to the rule, and as soon as the music video for "Anti-Hero" hit YouTube, fans were there with their magnifying glasses.

As such, it's time to unpack the Easter eggs in her "Anti-Hero" music video once and for all. Here's all the details you need to know about Taylor's latest musical endeavor.

The first image of the music video is a smiley face breakfast made of eggs, broccoli, and bacon. This could be a reference to Taylor's lyric "breakfast at midnight" (now Midnight, capital M) from her Red album on the song "22." The eggs also leak glitter gel liquid, which is most definitely a reference to Taylor's "glitter gel pen" writing. (Taylor previously revealed that she divides her songs into three different pen-themed categories; she said the "gel pen" songs are "frivolous, carefree, bouncy, syncopated perfectly to the beat," per NME.)

In the music video, two ghosts chase Taylor around her own home, but if fans pay close attention to their accessories, they might notice that one ghost wears cat ears similar to Taylor in the "22" music video, while the other wears a cowboy hat — perhaps as a nod to Taylor's country music roots, or "Cowboy Like Me" from Evermore.

Additionally, the ghosts appear as she sings "all of the people I've ghosted stand there in the room" before the doorbell rings, and her alter ego appears, there to sabotage her life.

Speaking of Taylor's alter ego, the Taylor in a sparkly jumpsuit immediately encourages "Normal Taylor" to do shots. This could be a reference to a viral video from August 2019 where "Drunk Taylor" trended online. She later spoke about the video on the Tonight Show that October, saying, "So I was at a party like a couple months ago and I had two and half mojitos, and then the next day, #DrunkTaylor was like number-one trending on Twitter, because, you know, I go from like zero to legitimately thinking I’m a wizard within like two drinks."

Taylor Swift is known for having a wide variety of specialized guitars at her disposal, so fans were quick to notice that Alter Ego Taylor smashed her infamous koi guitar, best known from her Speak Now album era, on the floor. Taylor has yet to re-release Speak Now (Taylor's Version), but some fans may take this as a sign it's next on the docket for re-releasing.

Standing in front of a blackboard with the words "Everyone Will Betray You," Alter Ego Taylor points out one of Normal Taylor's biggest life lessons. Not only did Taylor Swift disappear from the public eye after a private phone conversation between herself and Kanye West "leaked," but Scooter Braun bought the masters of her first six albums without her consent from her longterm label.

First, Taylor is shot with an arrow, which is potentially a reference to the song "The Archer" on her Lover album, and she goes to tab the glitter wound with a tablecloth before bandaging it with a campaign sticker. The sticker itself could be a reference to critics who see her as only hungry for awards and some who view her as "calculated," because the button reads "Vote for me for everything."

In her documentary Miss Americana, Taylor addressed her eating disorder head-on, saying the public's running commentary on her body from a young age caused her to restrict her diet and severely over-exercise. She said there were times in the past when she'd see "a picture of me where I feel like I looked like my tummy was too big, or … someone said that I looked pregnant … and that’ll just trigger me to just starve a little bit — just stop eating."

Thankfully, Taylor told Variety in 2020 she has overcome the worst of her weight-related insecurities, but with "Anti-Hero" being a song primarily about self-loathing, it's obvious that she has bad days as well.

In a tongue-in-cheek moment, Taylor imagines her wake, with her daughter-in-law and children fighting over her properties. Then, when they discover Taylor has only left them 13 cents, the group discusses whether there are any hidden Easter eggs or meanings in the will to be decoded. A frightened Taylor peeks out from the casket before closing it again as the world descends to chaos.