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THROWBACK: Penn Badgley Once Revealed Which Taylor Swift Song Perfectly Describes His 'You' Character
In 2023, Penn Badgley, the face behind serial murderer Joe Goldberg on Netflix’s popular series You was seen lip-syncing Taylor Swift's track Anti Hero.
Pop icon Taylor Swift’s songs resonate with everyone—whether you’re newly single, drowning in tears processing heartbreak, have already found your soulmate and are piecing together your fairytale, or just want to have fun gossiping with friends about life. But have you ever wondered if her songs could resonate with a serial killer? Well, they just might. We’re not kidding.
Just like they did with actor Penn Badgley, the face behind frequent murderer Joe Goldberg on Netflix’s popular series You. Back in 2023, Badgley caught the pop star’s attention by lip-syncing her Midnights lead single Anti-Hero, dressed as his character, in a viral TikTok.
“I thought for years, ‘I’ll get a TikTok when the time is right,’” Badgley said in a 2023 interview with Rolling Stone. He added, “And then when Taylor’s record came out, it just seemed like the song wouldn’t have worked with anybody else. Me. Joe. Anti-Hero. Taylor Swift? It was just the perfect moment.”
Swift has described Anti-Hero—her longest-running No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100—as being like a “guided tour through all the things I tend to hate about myself.” In his TikTok, on which the singer herself commented “OMG!!!!”, Badgley lip-synced to the song dressed as his character, Joe Goldberg.
Perhaps, Swift could never have imagined that her song would be used by an actor portraying a quintessential psycho serial killer.
Joe (who goes by Jonathan Moore while hiding out in London in the fourth season, released on Feb. 9) is undeniably charming but also a walking red flag—the root of every problem, especially when he's involved with a woman.
Much like Swift, Joe often battles internal insecurities and personal demons, though his manifest in the form of a psychological inability to stop stalking, kidnapping, and brutally murdering people—mostly his alleged love interests.
Later in the interview, Penn Badgley revealed that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to play the complex character of Joe in the series. “Joe is always struggling with who he is and what he’s doing,” he added.
Lastly, Badgley noted how difficult it is to relate to the character as a normal person, since Joe has been portrayed as a pathological liar who operates with three layers of deceit, no matter the situation.
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