Hear Taylor Swift’s Woke New Song, ‘You Need to Calm Down’ [Listen]
Taylor Swift debuted "You Need to Calm Down," the second single from her upcoming seventh studio album, Lover, at midnight on Friday (June 14).
This follows the lead single from the album, "ME!", featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco. Swift announced the news of her album, its cover, new single, and upcoming music video for "You Need to Calm Down" on an Instagram live stream on Thursday (June 13).
The mid-tempo pop song slyly makes fun of people who feel the need to call out others for their perceived bad behavior.
"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 my gown? / You need to calm down," Swift advises in the chorus.
Swift addresses anti-gay activists directly in the second verse of the song, singing, "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? / Sunshine on the street at the parade / But you would rather be in the dark ages / Makin' that sign must've taken all night."
Fans can pre-order Lover now, with the 18-track album set to release on Aug. 23. Fans can also pre-order one or all of the four deluxe versions from Target which include two bonus audio tracks of Swift's creative process behind two of the songs. The deluxe editions also include a poster, lyric book, journal, and book filled with exclusive Swift content (each of the four are different).
"I'm so excited for you to hear it," Swift said on Instagram.
Swift is purposefully releasing the music video after the single because "there's a lot going on in the video, so I wanted that to be a separate discovery."
Swift released "ME!" from Lover earlier this spring as the lead single from the album.
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