"You Need to Calm Down" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and the second single from her seventh studio album, Lover (2019). Republic Records released it for download and streaming on June 14, 2019. Written and produced by Swift and Joel Little, "You Need to Calm Down" is a midtempo electropop and synth-pop song that is set over steady synth beats and has a refrain of ascending echoes. In the lyrics, Swift addresses Internet trolls and homophobes and voices her support for the LGBTQ+ community.
Swift directed the music video for "You Need to Calm Down" with Drew Kirsch and executive-produced it with Todrick Hall. The video features an ensemble cast and many LGBT celebrity cameos. Music critics were divided on "You Need to Calm Down", some praising the catchy production and pro-gay message, while others found it confusing and cynical. Despite the polarized reaction, media publications generally regard "You Need to Calm Down" as a gay anthem. The single reached number one in Scotland, number two in the United States, and the top five in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
At the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards, the music video for "You Need to Calm Down" received nine nominations, winning Video of the Year and Video for Good. The song also received a nomination for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 62nd Grammy Awards. Swift included "You Need to Calm Down" in many live concerts and as part of the set list to her Eras Tour (2023–2024).
Background and release Upon finishing her 2018 Reputation Stadium Tour, Taylor Swift wrote songs for her seventh studio album, Lover. She felt moved by the connections with her fans on tour, which inspired her to channel the vulnerability into her songwriting.
On June 13, 2019, via an Instagram live stream, she announced her seventh album, Lover, which was slated for release on August 23 via Republic Records. She also announced "You Need to Calm Down" as the album's second single, following the lead single "Me!". Swift revealed that she had contained an "old-timey, 1940s-sounding" instrumental of "You Need to Calm Down" in a scene of the "Me!" music video. "You Need to Calm Down" and its lyric video were released for streaming on June 14, 2019. A vertical video premiered exclusively on Spotify on June 24, 2019, and a remix by the British electronic music band Clean Bandit was released on August 20, 2019.
According to Swift, the main inspiration for "You Need to Calm Down" came when she felt "dismayed" after a friend of hers told her that she was not obvious on her political stance regarding gay rights, specifically when that friend asked her what she would do if she had a gay son; that conversation made her realize that she was not adequately "educated" on the matter. The lyric video changes the word "glad" in the lyrics to GLAAD, and highlighting "EA" letters as a reference to the Equality Act. The references followed Swift's donation to GLAAD in support of Pride Month, and Swift's Change.org petition for the United States Senate to pass the Equality Act. The petition attracted more than 500,000 signatures, including from Democrats such as Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Beto O'Rourke, and Kirsten Gillibrand. Following the release of the song, GLAAD reported an "influx" of donations in the amount of $13, a reference to Swift's favorite number.
Composition and lyrics
Swift wrote and produced "You Need to Calm Down" with Joel Little, who programmed the drums, played the keyboard, and recorded the track at Golden Age Studio in Los Angeles and Golden Age West in Auckland. The song was mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach. "You Need to Calm Down" is an electropop and synth-pop song with a minimal electronic production driven by a consistent synth bassline and synthesizer beats. Swift sings the verses in a near-rap delivery and the refrain contains ascending echoes of "Oh-oh"s.
The lyrics tackle homophobia and expresses support for the LGBT community and denounce Internet trolls, cancel culture, and cyberbullying. Swift organized the song such that each verse addresses a theme: the first is about trolls and cancel culture ("You are somebody that I don't know/ But you're taking shots at me like it's Patrón"), the second is about homophobes and protestors outside her concerts ("Sunshine on the street at the parade/ But you would rather be in the dark ages/ Making that sign, must've taken all night"), and the third is about "successful women being pitted against each other" ("And we see you over there on the internet/ Comparing all the girls who are killing it/ But we figured you out/ We all know now, we all got crowns"). Swift explained that the song's LGBT theme could fit in with Lover's concept about love because it addresses "how certain people are not allowed to live their lives without discrimination just based on who they love".
Critical reception "You Need to Calm Down" divided critics. Dan Stubbs from NME called the song "withering in its measured response", concluding it was "an infectious, bite-size pop package". Gwen Ihnat of The A.V. Club wrote that the song "clearly and refreshingly combats homophobia and anti-gay bias". Maeve McDermott and Joshua Bote, writing for USA Today, considered the song "an improvement" over the previous single "Me!", and "a more promising example of what fans can expect" from the album. Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times also concurred that the song was "a big creative improvement" over "Me!", while commenting the "explicit pro-gay message is certainly welcome, but it also feels just the slightest bit cynical". Time Raisa Bruner wrote that the song is "bright, bubbly and unabashedly vying for earworm status", and that it is a "colorful clapback that works as a warning to homophobes, trolls and bullies". She added that Swift is "sing-talking her way through a series of quotable lyrics, over a "juicy, unhurried" synth beat. Bruner further stated that, at this song, Swift is "at her most pop-forward" on Lover, owing to its cascading chorus echoes.
Michelle Kim of Pitchfork wrote that, while the song is "well-intentioned" and the allyship deserved some praise, it is also "bewildering and underwhelming at the same time". Justin Kirkland of Esquire wrote the song "misses the point of being an LGBTQ ally" by "equating online haters with the personal and societal struggle of LGBTQ+ people". Similarly, Spencer Kornhaber from The Atlantic criticised the song's "breathtaking argument... that famous people are persecuted in a way meaningfully comparable to queer people." Music critic Todd Nathanson described it as "a very trivializing song," specifically criticizing the line "shade never made anybody less gay" as minimizing the impact of homophobia. Will Gottsegen of Spin wrote the song's "easy, inoffensive lyrics... feel engineered to appeal to the broadest possible demographic", and that the song "plays it too safe" and "feels a little like a cop out". Constance Grady of Vox called the song "exhausting", comparing the song unfavorably to "Mean" (2011), another single from Swift. The Herald-Tribune named "You Need to Calm Down" as the second-best song of 2019.
Commercial performance In the United States, "You Need to Calm Down" debuted and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the second top two hit from Lover. Like in the case of lead single "Me!", "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus blocked "You Need to Calm Down" from reaching the top spot on the chart. However, the song garnered several chart records for Swift: with six songs reaching the number-two spot, Swift tied Madonna as the female artist with the most number two hits on the chart, having previously reached the spot with "Me!", "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" (2017), "I Knew You Were Trouble" (2013), "Today Was a Fairytale" (2010) and "You Belong with Me" (2009). The song became Swift's twenty-fourth top 10 hit, which is the fifth-most among female artists in the chart's history, behind Madonna (38), Rihanna (31), Mariah Carey (28) and Janet Jackson (27). The single is also Swift's sixteenth song to debut inside the top 10 of the chart, which is the second most top-ten debuts in the chart's history, only behind Drake, who has 20 top-ten debuts, making Swift the first and only female artist with 16 top-ten debuts in the Hot 100 history.
The song debuted at number-one on the Billboard Digital Song Sales charts, selling 79,000 downloads, becoming Swift's record-extending seventeenth number-one hit on that chart. The track started at number 33 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart, based on three days of airplay, and eventually peaked at number nine.
In Canada, the song entered the Hot AC chart at number 40 based on three days of radio tracking. It debuted at number four on the Canadian Hot 100, becoming the second top five hit from the album in the country.
In the United Kingdom, the song debuted at number five on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Swift's thirteenth top 10 in the UK. In Scotland, the song debuted at number one on the singles chart, becoming Swift's fifth chart topper in the country, as well as her second consecutive number-one hit in Scotland from Lover. In Ireland, the song debuted at number five, tying Swift's previous single, "Me!", which peaked in the week ending May 3, 2019. In Germany, the song debuted at number 37 on the Official German Charts later peaking at number 36. In the Netherlands, the song debuted at number 28 on the Single Top 100 chart. In Belgium, the song arrived at number 11 on the Belgian Ultratip chart later peaking at number three. In Sweden, the song entered at number 55 on the Sverigetopplistan chart later peaking at number 35. It was less successful in France, where the song debuted at number 154 and spent only one week.
In Australia, the song debuted at number three in the ARIA Charts, becoming the second top three hit from the album in the country. In New Zealand, the song entered the Recorded Music NZ singles chart at number five, becoming Swift's fifteenth top 10 single in the country. The song also topped New Zealand Hot Singles chart.
Music video Background The music video for "You Need to Calm Down" was directed by Swift and Drew Kirsch and executive produced by Swift and Todrick Hall. It was released on June 17, 2019, after a premiere on Good Morning America. The video featured a large number of celebrity cameos, many of whom are LGBT. In order of appearance, the list includes dancer Giuseppe Giofrè, Dexter Mayfield, YouTuber Hannah Hart, actress Laverne Cox, singer Chester Lockhart, entertainer Todrick Hall, singer Hayley Kiyoko, actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson, lawyer Justin Mikita, singer Ciara, Netflix series Queer Eyes Fab Five (Tan France, Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Antoni Porowski, and Jonathan Van Ness), figure skater Adam Rippon, singer Adam Lambert, television personality Ellen DeGeneres, entertainers Billy Porter and RuPaul, singer Katy Perry, and actor Ryan Reynolds. The appearance of Perry serves as an end to a dispute between her and Swift, although both artists had publicly ended the feud several months prior. Numerous drag queens also appear in the video impersonating various female recording artists. Tatianna portrays Ariana Grande, Trinity the Tuck portrays Lady Gaga, Delta Work portrays Adele, Trinity K. Bonet portrays Cardi B, Jade Jolie portrays Swift, Riley Knoxx portrays Beyoncé, Adore Delano portrays Perry and A'keria Chanel Davenport portrays Nicki Minaj. The video was shot in Santa Clarita, California.
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