Since Taylor Swift dropped the “Anti-Hero” music video fans have jumped on the TikTok challenge to recreate it with the latest being Penn Badgley – and we have it all explained.
On October 21 the 32-year-old singer/songwriter dropped her tenth studio album – which broke the record for the most-streamed album in a single day in Spotify history – and premiered her first music video for the album on the same day with the song “Anti-Hero”.
Now Swifties are jumping on the challenge, including none other than the You and Gossip Girl star Penn Badgley, who definitely knew the assignment.
The Anti-Hero TikTok Challenge Explained
The Anti-Hero TikTok challenge actually started life on YouTube following the release of the “Anti-Hero” visual just hours after Swift’s album Midnights dropped.
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Upon its release, Swift partnered with YouTube shorts to show dysfunctional or strange personality traits – matching the theme of the music video – with the first showing Swift singing “It’s me, hi! I’m the problem, it’s me” along with showing the caption “thinks her cat is her son” with a picture of her youngest cat, Benjamin Button Swift.
YouTube explains: ‘The #TSAntiHeroChallenge is all about acknowledging and celebrating the traits that make each of us truly unique and showcasing one’s true self in a FUN way.
‘An anti-heroic trait could be as simple as always grabbing the last slice of pizza, clapping at the end of movies, always putting your feet on the car dashboard, using the same word to start your daily Wordle, leaving your clean laundry in the basket until the next time you do it, pretending you didn’t already watch the next episode of the series you watch with your pals, or even treating your cat like a human.’
Swift went on to post another claiming her other anti-heroic trait is “self-imposed isolation” – referencing the period of time she hid from the public between 2016 and 2017.
Penn Badgley’s Anti-Hero TikTok Challenge
Although it started life on YouTube shorts, the challenge quickly made its way to TikTok with hundreds of fans taking part and showing their anti-heroic traits on the video-sharing app.
On that got Swift’s attention was the Netflix You star, Penn Badgley’s as he recreated the first chorus of Swift’s “Anti-Hero” music video.
Swift responded to the video – which currently has over 200,000 likes and over 720,000 views – saying: “OMG” with a heart-eye emoji.
The TikTok Anti-Hero Challenge has now got over 10.5 million views on the hashtag.
Great Anti-Hero TikTok Challenge Examples
The great thing about this challenge is people’s creativity when announcing their anti-heroic traits with some admitting to going overboard with Halloween decorations and others just talk about their anxieties and insecurities.