Taylor Swift released her latest single "The Archer" on July 23. Jack Antonoff, who co-produced the song, tweeted:
"the archer is out. one of my favorite things Taylor and I have done together."
Later, he tweeted a lyric from the song: "all my heroes die all alone – help me hold on to you."
Jack Antonoff, the lead singer of the alternative band Bleachers, is a singer, songwriter, and producer who has worked with various artists, including Taylor Swift, Lorde, and St. Vincent. A common theme ties his music with songs he's co-produced, such as "The Archer"—the reoccurring reference to "heroes."
1. The Archer by Taylor Swift
Bleachers, St. Vincent and Lorde all released music in 2017. "Perfect Places," the final track on Lorde's sophomore album Melodrama, features the line: "All of our heroes fading/ Now I can't stand to be alone."
"I felt the loss of Prince and David Bowie hard last year," said the New Zealand singer, according to Genius Lyrics. "A massive light went out."
2. Perfect Places by Lorde
Lorde and Antonoff have always worked closely together and are evidently friends. Antonoff co-produced Melodrama and Lorde is featured on the Bleachers track "Don't Take the Money."
Indie singer Annie Clark, who goes by the stage name St. Vincent, also released a single in 2017, "New York." She confirmed that the line "I have lost a hero. I have lost a friend" also refers to the deaths of David Bowie and Prince, according to W Magazine. Both Bowie and Prince died in 2016. "Heroes" likely refers to the famous David Bowie song.
3. New York by St. Vincent
But Antonoff knows his heroes more personally. The song "All My Heroes" is featured on his band's second album, Gone Now. In an interview with Time Magazine, he called the album "this big package and then you tie a little bow on top and the package is my whole life and every album is a giant funnel."
"Dream of Mickey Mantle," the opening track on Gone Now, includes the line, "Mickey Mantle left on a Sunday/ All the neighborhood rushes home to pray." Antonoff, a New Jersey native, says the death of baseball star Mickey Mantle hit his hometown hard, and as a child, it was his first experience with death.
Antonoff recalls three moments where he feels he "lost his innocence": 9/11, the death of his sister from cancer and the death of his cousin, who was killed from war.
In "All My Heroes," he sings:
"All my heroes got tired
All the days they got short
And the love that I dreamt of
Came to me at my worst."
4. All My Heroes by Bleachers
The song might refer to losing heroes not only to death but to reputation and scandal. These heroes could be parents and adult role models, who turned out to be flawed human beings just like everyone else.
The song goes on to repeat the crucial line, "I'll be something better yet." Here, Antonoff is reflecting on himself, and the person he aspires to be—better than his heroes, or at least the image he created of them.
Artists, like Bowie and Prince, inspired fans in such a way so listeners feel they know them personally. Current artists like St. Vincent and Lorde carry on these musicians' memories by acknowledging the impact they have had on their own lives and careers.
But who are the "heroes" in Taylor Swift's "The Archer"? This mellow track—resembling in sound to "New York," "All My Heroes" and "Perfect Places"—deals with Swift's insecurities in her relationships. Swift might be hoping she won't wind up alone like some of her other heroes, who maybe never found love.
Our heroes, in terms of this reappearing image, could be our role models, the fallen icons we grieve, such as Bowie and Prince. Or, they could be people in our own lives, whom we once aspired to be, before we either lost them or they let us down.
The reference to "heroes" is a beautiful sentiment, a reoccurring image tying together various artists. Most likely, this won't be the last time we see the theme in Antonoff's music.
