Taylor Swift’s brand new single is here, and it’s nothing to keep calm about.
As promised during her revealing Instagram Live session on Thursday (June 13) — where she also announced her seventh album, Lover — “You Need to Calm Down” arrived at the stroke of midnight.
It’s another buoyant offering from the pop star, who continues radiating joy by putting haters and homophobes in their place: “You just need to take several seats and then try to restore the peace / And control your urges to scream about the people you hate / ‘Cause shade never made anybody less gay.” We stan a new Pride Month anthem!
Did you catch how Swift spelled “glad” with two A’s in the accompanying lyric video? Yep, that’d be a reference to the LGBTQ organization GLAAD, which recently received a generous donation from the pop star and noted ally herself.
The track’s cover art shows Swift’s back covered with a (presumably fake) tattoo that echoes the opening scene of her “ME!” video: a kaleidoscope of butterflies emerging from a slithering snake, which was the dominant symbol of her brooding reputation era.
“You Need to Calm Down” is the second taste of Lover, following the Brendon Urie-featuring lead single, “ME!”. The reputation follow-up arrives on August 23 and marks a decidedly lighter and brighter direction for Swift, who appears amid pastel-colored clouds on the dreamy cover art.
Swift further revealed on Instagram that the 18-track project is “very romantic.” She explained, “And not just simply thematically, like it’s all love songs or something. Because I think that the idea of something being romantic, it doesn’t have to be a happy song. I think you can find romance in loneliness or sadness or going through a conflict or dealing with things in your life. It just kind of looks at those things with a very romantic gaze.”
The “You Need to Calm Down” video, Swift spilled, will premiere on Monday (June 17) on Good Morning America. Until then, read up on more album details here, and get those countdowns going!