“You Need to Calm Down” is the second single off of Taylor Swift’s 7th studio album ‘Lover’ due on August 23, 2019.
Taylor Swift explained the meaning behind this song in an interview with Beats 1 Radio; “It’s about how I’ve observed a lot of different people in our society who just put so much energy and effort into negativity, and it just made me feel like, ‘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.'”
In “You Need to Calm Down” lyrics, Taylor Swift addresses some controversial scenarios such as online bullying, her fueds with some celebrities, and continues to show her support for the LGBTQ community.
Listen to “You Need to Calm Down” by Taylor Swift
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In the first verse of the song, Taylor Swift brings up the topic of ‘keyboard heroes’ who roam online. These people have very little to do than go online looking for people’s flaws and mistakes to bash on them. Taylor Swift is trying to understand what these people are up to! Especially for a celebrity of the calibre of Taylor Swift, an online comment does not hurt the reputation she has built. However, the singer herself could be hurt. We are all human after all. Online platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr have become massive outlets for celebrities to connect with their fans. And these ‘keyboard heroes’ seem quite powerful making snarky comments online. However, if they said the same thing out loud on a street, they would probably get beaten up and put in jail.
In the pre-chorus of “You Need to Calm Down,” Taylor Swift explains that even she has no right to stop these people doing what they want online or even in real life. Hence, she has learned to rather let go. Taylor brings in the infamous ‘snakes’ reference to hint at the feud with Kanye West. Kim Kardashian-West, the wife of Kanye West, called Taylor Swift a ‘snake’ in a Tweet and Taylor Swift fully embraced the hate in her ‘Reputation‘ album era.
GLAAD (The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) is an American organization founded by members of the LGBT community to fight for LGBTQ rights. Taylor goes on to show her support for homosexual rights and freedom in the lyrics. She calls people in fear of homosexuals as people living in the ‘dark ages,’ a period of religious dominance during the 5th to the 15th century.
Throwing ‘shade’ or being in the shade of the closet does not make a gay person any less of it. Taylor’s joyous invite to all is to come out and be free.
In the bridge of the song, Taylor Swift tries to show support to all the girls who are ‘killing it’ out there in the world. This is her way of showing support to her girl-squad which includes artsits, models and actresses, and this could be an extention to her rivals such as Katy Perry.
Let us hear what you think about “You Need to Calm Down” by Taylor Swift in the comments below. Is it everything you expected?
Complete Lyrics to “You Need to Calm Down” by Taylor Swift