Taylor Swift – “You Need To Calm Down” Video (Feat. Katy Perry)
The great Taylor Swift/Katy Perry beef — the storied saga of “Bad Blood” and “Swish Swish” — ended last year when Perry sent Swift a literal olive branch as Swift was beginning her big Reputation stadium tour. And now that beef has come to its inevitable and glorious conclusion, in the form of a music video where Taylor Swift plays a bag of fries and Katy Perry plays a burger. (Presumably, it’s the same burger costume that Perry wore at the Met Gala.) The two of them make good at a “Pop Queen Pageant” as confetti literally rains down and food flies in all directions. We can all, as a culture, breathe a sigh of relief.
This great detente takes place in Swift’s video for her new single “You Need To Calm Down,” which she released last week. “You Need To Calm Down” — an anthemic pop song that’s somehow both about homophobia and online haters — now exists mostly as a soundtrack to this bright, candy-colored video, where Swift lives in a trailer park full of queer icons and beset on all sides by homophobic protesters.
Swift co-directed the video with Drew Kirsch, and it features an endless parade from famous people. The video’s cameos include Ellen DeGeneres, Ryan Reynolds, RuPaul, Ciara, the cast of Queer Eye, Adam Rippon, Laverne Cox, Adam Lambert, Dexter Mayfield, Billy Porter, Todrick Hall, Chester Lockhart, and Hannah Hart. (It’s easy to accuse Swift of a lot of things, but this is still a major pop star, who started out in country, going all-in on queer imagery, releasing this video a few days after making a surprise Pride Month appearance at the Stonewall Inn. That’s kind of cool!) Watch the video below.
Before the video came out, there was apparently a rumor that it would feature Swift and Perry kissing. People reports that Swift responded directly to a fan who asked her about it on Tumblr:
Guys, that is ABSOLUTELY false. To be an ally is to understand the difference between advocating and baiting. Anyone trying to twist this positivity into something it isn’t needs to calm down. It costs zero dollars not to step on our gowns.
Also:
A happy meal 🍔 🍟 💗 pic.twitter.com/hPAbOZEsKF
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 17, 2019
Swift’s new album Lover is out 8/23 on Republic.