Peak
2
Weeks
21
Score
3,717
Chart Year
2019
The video is set in a colorful trailer park. Swift awakens in her trailer, wearing a bathrobe over a swimsuit, with an embroidery containing the Cher quote "Mom, I am a Rich Man" hanging on a wall.[52] Swift throws her phone onto her bed, which then gives off sparks and starts a fire in the trailer. She nonchalantly walks to a pool, ignoring her burning trailer. She goes into the pool, lying on a float, while looking at the camera and singing. The camera then switches to other residents in the trailer park and their activities, including Mayfield dancing, Hart weightlifting a boombox and Cox watering her yard of plastic flamingoes and greeting Lockhart, who promptly faints. The scene cuts to Swift walking and dancing down a street with Hall, interspersed with scenes of Kiyoko shooting an arrow into a target with the number "5" (a clue to Swift's next promotional single "The Archer", the fifth track on the album), protesters holding placards with anti-gay slogans (a reference to a real-life religious group that picketed Swift's concerts),[1] Ciara officiating a wedding between Ferguson and Mikita, and Rippon serving snow cones to customers from a stall. Swift also holds a tea party with the Fab Five and Hall. In another trailer, Lambert tattoos the words "Cruel Summer" (later revealed to be a song on the album) onto DeGeneres' right arm. In the next scene, Swift and other residents sun tan while ignoring the heckling protesters, followed by Porter walking down the middle of the two crowds wearing a dress. The scene shifts to a "pop queen pageant" with the contestants dressed as numerous female singers. RuPaul walks down the lineup with a crown decorated with emeralds and fleur-de-lis motifs,[52] but instead of crowning a winner, he throws it in the air. A food fight begins, with Swift appearing in a french fries costume and Perry in a hamburger suit. The two see and walk towards each other. Elsewhere, Reynolds is portraying Norman Rockwell working on a painting of the Stonewall Inn.[52][53] Swift and Perry smile, dance and share a hug. A message at the end of the video urges viewers to sign Swift's Change.org petition for the United States Senate to pass the Equality Act.
"You Need To Calm Down" finds Taylor Swift calling out haters and anti-gay protesters. Over the course of three verses she slyly pokes fun at the detractors. During the first verse, Swift puts social media haters in their place. Say it in the street, that's a knock-out But you say it in a Tweet, that's a cop-out And I'm just like, "Hey, are you okay?" Verse two finds her uplifting the LGBTQ community and gay rights organization GLAAD. Why are you mad when you could be GLAAD? (You could be GLAAD) Sunshine on the street at the parade. Swift takes on successful women who are competing with each other in the third verse. She points out nobody needs to be on top as "we all got crowns." Speaking on Beats 1, Swift explained the song came from her observations of people who devote a great deal of time basking in negativity. It made her feel like telling them, "You need to just calm down, like you're stressing yourself out. This seems like it's more about you than what you're going off about. Like, just calm down." Swift had dropped a clue about the song's content during the video of her previous single "Me!." In the clip, the singer has an argument with Brendon Urie in French. "You need to calm down!" Urie says. To which Swift yells, "I AM CALM!" Swift wrote and produced the song with New Zealand producer Joel Little. The same pair also wrote and produced "Me!" The colorful, star-studded video was directed by Swift and Drew Kirsch. It shows the songstress hanging out in a trailer park with a cast of neighbors, including such LGBTQ icons as Ellen DeGeneres, Laverne Cox, RuPaul, Adam Lambert, Hayley Kiyoko and Queer Eye's Fab Five (Karamo Brown, Antoni Porowski, Jonathan Van Ness, Bobby Berk, Tan France). Other stars making an appearance include Ryan Reynolds, Ciara and most notably Katy Perry dressed as a gigantic cheeseburger. Swift had an ongoing feud with Perry for a number of years after three dancers on Taylor's tour left before it was completed to join Katy's. During the "Roar" singer's cameo, the pair share a hug, signifying a public burying of the hatchet. In a Spotify storyline, Swift explained: "I wrote this song about the energy and effort that some people put into spreading negativity. With all of the trolling, cancel culture, telling people how to live their lives or pitting women against each other... you're being too loud. This is a song where I'm saying, 'You need to calm down. Go outside. It's the summer.'" The visual won Video of the Year at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards. "In this video, several points were made," Swift said in her acceptance speech. "So you voting for this video means that you want a world where we're all treated equally, regardless of who we love, regardless of how we identify." "You Need To Calm Down" was Swift's second Video of the Year VMA after winning in 2015 for "Bad Blood."
You are somebody that I don't know But you're takin' shots at me like it's Patron And I'm just like, damn, it's 7 AM Say it in the street, that's a knock-out But you say it in a Tweet, that's a cop-out And I'm just like, "Hey, are you okay?" And I ain't tryna mess with your self-expression But I've learned a lesson that stressin' and obsessin' 'bout somebody else is no fun And snakes and stones never broke my bones So oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh You need to calm down You're being too loud And I'm just like oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh You need to just stop Like can you just not step on my gown? You need to calm down You are somebody that we don't know But you're comin' at my friends like a missile Why are you mad? When you could be GLAAD? (You could be GLAAD) Sunshine on the street at the parade But you would rather be in the dark age Just makin' that sign must've taken all night You just need to take several seats and then try to restore the peace And control your urges to scream about all the people you hate 'Cause shade never made anybody less gay So oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh You need to calm down You're being too loud And I'm just like oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh (oh) You need to just stop Like can you just not step on his gown? You need to calm down 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 You need to calm down Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh You need to calm down You're being too loud And I'm just like oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh (oh) You need to just stop (can you stop?) Like can you just not step on our gowns? You need to calm down
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jun 29, 2019 | 2 | 124 |
| 2 | Jul 6, 2019 | 13 | 113 |
| 3 | Jul 13, 2019 | 13 | 113 |
| 4 | Jul 20, 2019 | 16 | 110 |
| 5 | Jul 27, 2019 | 15 | 111 |
| 6 | Aug 3, 2019 | 15 | 111 |
| 7 | Aug 10, 2019 | 16 | 110 |
| 8 | Aug 17, 2019 | 18 | 108 |
| 9 | Aug 24, 2019 | 18 | 108 |
| 10 | Aug 31, 2019 | 14 | 112 |
| 11 | Sep 7, 2019 | 4 | 122 |
| 12 | Sep 14, 2019 | 12 | 114 |
| 13 | Sep 21, 2019 | 24 | 102 |
| 14 | Sep 28, 2019 | 21 | 105 |
| 15 | Oct 5, 2019 | 23 | 103 |
| 16 | Oct 12, 2019 | 27 | 99 |
| 17 | Oct 19, 2019 | 28 | 98 |
| 18 | Oct 26, 2019 | 33 | 93 |
| 19 | Nov 2, 2019 | 37 | 89 |
| 20 | Nov 9, 2019 | 52 | 74 |