Learn English with Taylor Swift | Learn Advanced Vocabulary with The Song "Anti-Hero"

Hello hello Jennifer here from JForrest English  training and I have a very fun lesson for you.  

We are going to review Taylor Swift hit song  antihero, and we're going to review the lyrics  

of this song so you can learn a lot of advanced  vocabulary and grammar and sentence structure  

and pronunciation in a really fun way. Are  you excited? Let's get started. Let's start  

by reviewing the name of the song which is anti  hero, anti hero. And anti hero is someone who  

does not have traditional heroic qualities.  So notice here heroic This is an adjective to  

describe the qualities you can also describe a  person as heroic. So you can say firefighters,  

people who fight fires. Firefighters are very  heroic so we're using it as an adjective.  

So anti hero is someone who does not have these  traditional heroic qualities like courage. But  

even though they don't have those qualities,  they're still admired. Now, you probably hear  

about anti heroes more in movies plays books,  in this case, song lyrics. Thinking of movies,  

the first movie that came to my mind is the  movie Deadpool if you haven't seen the movie  

Deadpool I highly recommend it because it's  hilarious. And this character is a classic  

example. Of an antihero. So now let's continue  on with the rest of the lyrics. Now remember,  

this is a song so it's not going to sound the same  just reading it, but I am not going to sing this  

for you. But I have selected some of the most  common expressions and idioms that I think you  

might not know and will be useful for you to  have in your vocabulary. So we're just going  

to focus on these specific expressions that I've  highlighted. And after I explain everything I've  

included the link to where you can listen  to the song, but with the lyrics as well,  

so you can follow along with the lyrics so you can  click this link after you've watched the Lesson.  

Okay, so this line is when mind depression  works the graveyard shift. So here what I  

have highlighted to work the graveyard shift, the  graveyard shift. This is actually a time period  

and it's a time period out work that begins  late at night. So usually around midnight,  

and ends early in the morning. So you  might work from 12 o'clock midnight to 6am  

and there are many people who would have to work  the graveyard shift, such as doctors, nurses,  

police, and firefighters, my earlier example and  of course many others as well. What about you?  

Have you ever worked the graveyard shift? Share  in the comments below? As an example sentence?  

You could say I'm exhausted from working the  graveyard shift all week. So that's what it  

means. Now she's saying mind depression. So she's  saying her depression starts affecting her around  

midnight and it lasts all night into the morning.  So that's a very negative thing because obviously  

you're not going to sleep very well. If your  depression works the grave night shift right.  

So let's go to our next sentence. She says all  of the people I've ghosted stand there in the  

room. Now I just want to point out as we're going  through this song, just remember this is a song  

Taylor Swift wrote it and the song is kind of like  a dream she had the lyrics don't really make a lot  

of sense in terms of telling a story. It's like  if you tried to tell someone about your dream, and  

it probably wouldn't make a lot of sense so just  keep that in mind as we're reviewing the lyrics.  

All of the people I've ghosted Have you heard this  expression to ghost someone? I've been ghosted,  

I ghosted him i ghosted her. This is a new  expression that has only been used probably  

for the last five to 10 years. When you go someone  you suddenly disappear from that person's life,  

but you don't tell the person that you're ending  the relationship. And the relationship could be  

a romantic relationship, but it could also be a  friendship as well. So let's say you started a  

new friendship with someone and you hung out  three or four times you went to the movies,  

you got coffee, you went out for dinner together,  and then all of a sudden, that person doesn't  

talk to you anymore. You send them a message,  hey, do you want to get together this weekend?  

No reply. You send them another message.  Hey, did you get my last message?  

No reply. That person just ghosted you. So I  wrote the definition here for you. And let me  

give you another example sentence. We went out  on three dates, but then she ghosted me she just  

stopped replying to my messages, stop sending  me messages. And she didn't tell me or explain  

why. The next sentence is I should not be left to  my own devices. This is an idiom to leave someone  

to their own devices. Notice the plural, its  devices plural devices, and this is to allow  

someone to make their own decisions about what  to do so by saying I should not be left to my  

own devices. Taylor Swift is saying that she  should not be allowed to make her own decisions  

about what to do. Here's another example sentence.  My boss never leaves me to my own devices. So my  

boss doesn't allow me to make my own decisions.  Of course, in this context, it's about a work  

place decisions, right? So it's a very common  expression more so used in a business context,  

but as you can see with Taylor Swift, you  can use it in a general context as well.  

Let's continue on with our lyrics. They come up  with prices and vices. Well, that rhymes prices  

basic. What does vice mean? Well, advice is  a noun and it simply means a bad habit. So  

remember her line before is that she shouldn't be  left to her own devices. She shouldn't be able to  

make her own decisions. If she does. Well, then  she has a lot of bad habits that will influence  

her decision. So that could be a reason why  she shouldn't be left to her own devices.  

Now we use those quite a lot with bad habits that  aren't that bad of habits like chocolate. A lot of  

people will say chocolate is my main device in  life, which is saying, you know, you shouldn't  

eat so much chocolate but you do anyway. It's a  bad habit of yours. So you can use this with more  

serious vices like drugs and alcohol. But we also  use it with more light vices like chocolate or  

McDonald's or things like that. Maybe listening  to too much Taylor Swift is your vice because  

you shouldn't be working and not listening.  To Taylor Swift. Okay, let's continue on.  

So remember, we're skipping quite a lot because  we're just focusing on specific words that I don't  

think you'll understand. Cuz you got tired of my  scheming. Now what does it mean to scheme when you  

scheme is when you make plans, but those plans  are secret, and the purpose of those plans is  

to deceive others deceive simply means you want  them to believe or do something that isn't true  

or isn't good for them. So it's a negative thing  to scheme to scheme How can we trick someone how  

can we do something that will benefit us but not  them? Here's an example for you my kids have been  

scheming to avoid chores. So imagine your kids  are like how can we tell mom that we don't need to  

clean the bathroom or how can we get dad to do the  dishes for us? That's steaming and then they talk  

back and forth to each other. We can tell them we  have homework to do but then they don't actually  

have homework is just the scheme right? So of  course this is more of a light hearted example but  

it can be used in a more negative way as well. You  can scheme to try to cheat or steal for example.  

So cuz you got hired of my scheming so someone,  whoever the you is, was hired of Taylor Swift  

always creating these plans to deceive that person  scheming and it makes sense that the person would  

get tired of it not want her to do that. Okay,  then the chorus, the chorus is pretty simple.  

There's just one word that I'll point out. I'll  stare directly at the Sun but never in the mirror.  

So to stare This is the same as look. So right  now I'm looking here, but notice when I look,  

you know, sometimes my eyes will move a little  bit or I'll blink my eyes, but when you stare  

it's really intense. And I look directly at you  and I don't blink, I'm just staring. So it can be  

very intimidating when you stare at someone. And  it's considered rude or impolite in North American  

culture, at least to stare but in this example,  staring directly at the Sun, which is actually  

something you should not do because it can hurt  your eyes. You shouldn't stare at the sun. So  

let me leave that as your example sentence. You  shouldn't stare at the sun because you could hurt  

your eyes. So don't take that advice from Taylor's  sweat. But she never stares in the mirror so she  

doesn't look at herself for a long period of time.  intensely in the mirror. So I left the definition  

of stereo for you as well. Now let's continue  on. It must be exhausting always rooting for  

the antihero. You know what antihero is? So let's  talk about the verb to root and notice you root  

for someone or you can root for something as well.  Here's the definition. When you refer someone you  

want that person or team to win or to achieve  something specific in the sense of a promotion  

or a job. They win that promotion. They win that  job so you can think of it really as winning. We  

do use this a lot in sports. So let's say it was  the World Cup and we had France and Argentina in  

the playoffs, right? So you would ask someone  who are you rooting for? Who are you rooting  

for? Which team are you rooting for? You're asking  them who do you want to win? are you rooting for  

France or are you rooting for Argentina? Why are  you rooting for France? And then you can explain  

why? Now seeing let's say there's two people  up for a job promotion. Fred and Nancy, are  

you rooting for Fred or are you rooting for Nancy?  Or it could be in a political context you have two  

candidates are you rooting for candidate X or  candidate y? So let me just leave that example  

sentence with sports because that is probably the  most common time you'll use it. are you rooting  

for France or Argentina? And then whoever you're  rooting for is the person or team you want to win.  

Okay, it must be exhausting. always rooting for  the anti hero so you want the MIT hero to win.  

Remember, I highly recommend you listen to the  song with the lyrics. And then you can see all  

this new vocabulary and as you can listen to the  song. Did you know that this is the most popular  

song? According to the chart right now at the  time of this recording? That's why I chose it.  

Oh, hey, I remember you said it seems like  the lyrics don't really make a lot of sense.  

They don't tell a story. It's more like she's  talking about her dream. Sometimes I feel like  

everybody is a sexy baby. Like that's something  you might have dreamt about last night, right?  

So that's why I'm not going through it word for  word and I'm focusing on specific words. Did you  

hear my covert narcissism I disguised as altruism.  I'll explain some other words here because you  

might be wondering about covert covert simply  means Secret, secret or hidden. This is used  

a lot in a military context. They're on a covert  mission. So it's a mission that secret the general  

public has no knowledge of it. They're on a covert  mission. They're working on a covert project,  

for example, was used more in military but  it could also be used at work. You could  

be working on a covert project within your  company. Now let's talk about narcissism and  

altruism. Narcissism is having too much self  interest, interest in your own appearance, or  

it could also be your abilities as well. And the  covert narcissism is I'm trying to hide it. I'm  

trying to keep this interest in myself. secret or  hidden from others. altruism, on the other hand,  

is more of the opposite of narcissism because  altruistic people are more concerned about others  

not themselves. And it's that willingness to do  things for others. Even if it means sacrificing  

your own needs. That's altruism. Now let's talk  about disguise. When you disguise something,  

you try to hide it and in this case, it's a  feeling or an emotion, but we also try you can  

try to disguise yourself. I could try to disguise  myself by wearing a black wig so I could have  

black hair instead of my normal hair. I could wear  glasses and I could wear different clothing so I  

don't look like myself. Nobody would recognize  me if they saw me on the street for example,  

you so you can disguise yourself. But in this  case she's talking about disguising an emotion  

so trying to hide that emotion with another  emotion. So she's trying to hide her narcissism,  

which is interest in herself, her secret  narcissism as altruism interest in other people.  

So that's a very interesting lyric. To be honest,  it's very well written. Let's continue on.  

Okay, our course again. So remember, we saw stare  and rooting and we already discussed that. Now  

let's take a look at daughter in law. Again, this  is what caused me to say this is more like her  

talking about her dream. Because when I first saw  this, I was really confused because Taylor Swift  

cannot have a daughter in law. She's too young  to have a daughter in law because a daughter  

in law is the woman who is married to your son  or daughter. So if Taylor Swift had a daughter  

in law, Taylor Swift would have to have a child, a  son or a daughter, but that child would have to be  

old enough to be married. And then the person her  child marries is either her daughter in law for  

a woman or son in law for a man. Now obviously,  that's not possible. But if you're in your mid to  

late 40s, or 50s 60s, then you could definitely  have a daughter in law, but you possibly have a  

mother in law. A mother in law is the mother of  your husband or wife. So in this song, she says I  

have this dream. My daughter in law kills me for  the money. She thinks I left them in the will.  

Okay, that sounds like a common dream that  one could have. Now, the will. A will is a  

legal document and it outlines how your assets now  your assets could be your money your house, your  

car or any other possessions will be distributed,  which means given to other people after you die.  

Now I wonder what this is in your native language  do you use the terminology will just translated  

in your native language? I wonder? Let me  know in the comments. I'm curious about that.  

Okay, she thinks she the daughter in law thinks  I left them in the will as well funny. All right.  

So it's the chorus again, and oh, that's it. So  now I want you to click this link which you can  

find in the description of this video. Click  this link and watch the song with the lyrics  

and I hope you enjoy it. And did you enjoy this  lesson? This is the first lesson I've ever done  

reviewing a song and the lyrics of a song so Did  you like this? Would you like me to review more  

song lyrics? Let me know in the comments below.  I am really excited to hear about what you've  

thought about this lesson. And if you didn't like  it, please be honest because this is the first  

time I've reviewed song lyrics and I need to know  if you want me to do more videos like that. So  

please be honest. If you didn't like this style of  lesson that's okay. I am totally fine with that.  

Just be honest and share your feedback in the  comments below. But if you did like this lesson,  

please let me know by hitting that like button  subscribing and leave a positive comment as  

well and of course share this video with your  friends. Before you go make sure you head on over  

to my website JForrest English.com and download  your free speaking Guide. In this guide I share  

six tips on how to speak English fluently and  confidently and until next time Happy studying!