Penn Badgley’s TikTok Debut Mixes Taylor Swift And The You Universe

The advent of a new Taylor Swift album gives us not only the gift of song, but the gift of things to talk about online — at least for the next week, or until Julia Fox concocts an outfit out of a household item. (Today it is the dress she made from a beach towel.)

This T. Swift album cycle has also given us an unparalleled gift: inspiring Penn Badgley’s foray into TikTok. Badgley is the latest elder millennial to join the platform, which he is using to have a little fun around his house, and to promote You, taking the Joe Goldberg spin on Swift’s much-memed “Anti-Hero” lyrics. The video shows Badgley running through his apartment like a scream queen to open the door to find Joe Goldberg, lip-syncing and pointing to himself: “It’s me, hi. I’m the problem, it’s me.”

Swift co-signed the video, commenting: “OMG!!!!🤩,” but the real winning comment came from a fan who wrote: “screaming crying throwing up,” to which Badgley made a response video of him with his head in a metal bowl saying, “me too.” The improv of it all! Posted just 14 hours ago, Badgley already has amassed 140-thousand likes. You content is all well and good, but our fingers crossed for some Gossip Girl throwback TikToks.

Or maybe Badgley will keep making Joe Goldberg content — after all, he’s really good at it; even You’s director told him to be less creepy. It was announced last month that the much-anticipated You Season 4 (or at least, part 1) is going to be released on February 10 on Netflix, while part 2 will be released on March 10. Lukas Gage and Charlotte Ritchie will join the cast of You’s fourth season, which follows Joe in London in disguise as Professor Jonathan Moore as he tries to leave behind his life of obsession and murder — but knowing this little freak, we all know that’s unlikely.

"Gone are the days of unrequited love and longing. This time around, I'm focusing on academia and instruction while keeping my typical extracurricular activities strictly professional,” he says in the trailer. “Unfortunately, with friends in high places, then usually come others attempting to climb that social ladder. So, they end up falling or shall I say, pushed, to their social death. The question, by who?"

Watch the You Season 4 trailer, below.