Soundtrack
Anti-Hero’s Journey: Why ‘You’ Season 4 Has a Taylor Swift ‘Midnights’ Moment
You can thank timing — and Penn Badgley’s Tik Tok debut.
March 16, 2023
You Season 4 Uses Taylor Swift Song: Penn Badgley's Tik Tok Explains - Netflix Tudum
🤐 SPOILER ALERT 🤐
Hello, you. It’s me, Joe Goldberg. I’m the problem, it’s me.
After drenching the town in red (maroon?) across the 10 episodes of You Season 4, Penn Badgley’s murderous London Boy moves on to his next chapter to the sound of Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” in the season finale. The Midnights track, released four months ago, plays under a season-ending montage that checks in with everyone who survived Joe’s most recent killing spree — before unveiling the new-old life Joe has made for himself with Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) in New York City. (He’s in the penthouse of Kate’s heart… and in a literal penthouse.) But the road to Joe’s (latest) fresh start wasn’t smooth, as viewers will know all too well. Throughout the season, Joe goes full Fight Club before killing friends and kidnapping a former love interest, entering a dissociative state to protect his self-image as a good guy.
After Joe finally embraces his darker side in Episode 10, the lyric “It’s me, hi. I’m the problem, it’s me” seems like a perverse mantra of self-acceptance. In a fortuitous twist of fate, Midnights was released just as showrunner Sera Gamble and music supervisor Season Kent were searching for “big songs” for the closing sequence. “Anti-Hero” resonated with the season’s themes — and not just for its title.
“I watched the ‘Anti-Hero’ video for the first time and I realized we’ve been talking about [Joe] in that way [in the writers’ room],” Gamble tells Tudum. “And then I remembered seeing Penn’s [first-ever] Tik Tok also, to be weirdly sort of meta about it.”
Of course, this isn’t the first time You has featured Swift’s music. The thriller needle-dropped Folklore’s “exile” in the Season 3 finale as Joe burned down his Madre Linda life and chased Marienne (Tati Gabrielle) to Europe. Fans reacted passionately to the music cue. (And the fandom runs deep among the staff of You as well: Even though it doesn’t appear on-screen because they just did it on set, the code to Joe’s glass cage is 1-2-1-3-8-9 — the singer’s birthday.) Gamble and Kent figured it couldn’t hurt to ask Swift about using “Anti-Hero” in Season 4 — though it felt like a “big swing” because of how new and popular the song was upon its release. So Kent started the clearance process and Gamble wrote a letter to the singer.
“I sent a little note saying how much the fans of our show talk about ‘exile’ and how meaningful that is,” says Gamble. “I acknowledged that [‘exile’] was a really important addition to the show and that we wanted to pay homage to that [with ‘Anti-Hero’]. And look, we have people in our writers’ room who just show up to work in Taylor Swift T-shirts — true Swifties abound in the You-verse — so we just made a fan appeal, basically.”
And the rest is history. Or, folklore.
Related Tags
More on You
From the Goldbergs to the Lockwoods to Bronte and beyond.
The Podcrushed co-host talked with Joe’s nightmare: Women he can’t control.
“Somebody killing Joe wouldn’t be justice. It would be vengeance.”
Plus: HAVOC erupts on the films list, and audiences turn to The Two Popes.
She’s tough, yet vulnerable. But what’s she hiding?
Even Joe doesn’t know the full story. But you can.
An obsessive (and obsessive’s) guide to everything that happens in the series.
Penn Badgley’s Joe is back in New York for the final season.
Shop You
Soundtrack
It’s time to (beach) party like a Pogue.
Music supervisor Manish Raval on crafting a pop playlist for the comedy series.
The soundtrack also features music by Robyn, Paula Abdul, and more.
Travel back in time with the ’80s-fueled soundtrack.
We’re all just “running up that hill” with Max, aren’t we?
The visionaries behind Emilia Pérez discuss the electric song and scene.
The award-winning composer on penning ‘The Journey for Tyler Perry's film.
Here’s every Leonard Bernstein composition you’ll hear in the movie.
Drama
Director Lee Chang-dong took home the award for his first film in 8 years.
The drama, which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival, is his first film in eight years.
Miku Martineau, Sam Braun, and Kyle Clark break down rowing terms.
Head to Easton Prep with Miku Martineau, Samuel Braun, and Kyle Clark.
The acclaimed LGBTQ+ epic will arrive on Netflix later this year.
Harness your own practical magic with these witchy watches.
Guy Ritchie’s world of aristocratic criminals has plenty more business to attend to.
The Newfoundland-set series arrives Oct. 8.
Related Videos
It’s the end of You.
The cast and creators take you behind the scenes of “The Dark Face of Love.”
The cast and creators take you behind the scenes of “Finale"
The cast and creators take you behind the scenes of “Trial of the Furies”
The cast and creators take you behind the scenes of “Folie a Deux”
The cast and creators take you behind the scenes of “#JoeGoldberg”
The cast and creators take you behind the scenes of "The Luckiest Guy in NY."
The cast and executive producers discuss the making of "My Fair Maddie."
Popular Now
Inside the family trees, romances, and friendships of Tyler Perry’s new dramedy.
Stream A Different World, Best of the Best, a new season of The Gentlemen, and more.
From holiday matchups to the Week 18 game and NFL Honors, here’s what’s coming this season.
The filmmakers on Mica and JP’s marriage, his federal charges, and “Mica’s Law.”
