Everyone from Ryan Reynolds to RuPaul to Billy Porter appears in Taylor Swifts music video for You Need to Calm Down, the second single off the singers upcoming seventh album Lover. The track highlights Swifts support for the LGBTQ+ community, a theme that resonates throughout the video.
In the clip, directed by Swift and Drew Kirsch, Swift lives in a colorful trailer park, hanging out in an above-ground swimming pool as her trailer burns behind her. Her neighbors include numerous LGBTQ+ pop culture icons, including Laverne Cox, Adam Lambert, Ciara, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Queer Eyes Jonathan Van Ness and Ellen DeGeneres.
There is even a Taylor Swift drag impersonator (Jade Jolie, who once played Swift during the Snatch Game challenge on RuPauls Drag Race), who joins several other familiar drag queens for a Pop Queen Pageant. The Swift drag queen lip-syncs the tune alongside drag queens of Cardi B, Adele, Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Beyonce before RuPaul shows up with a crown. At the end of the celebratory video, Swift, dressed as French fries, reunites with her former rival Katy Perry, who is dressed as a burger.
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Swift, who made a surprise appearance with Ferguson at New Yorks Stonewall Inn during Pride, has recently been vocal about LGBTQ+ issues. She penned aletter to Republican senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee to ask for his support in passing the Equality Act when the bill reaches the U.S. Senate and created an online petition to help encourage the legislation. Ive decided to kick off Pride Month by writing a letter to one of my senators to explain how strongly I feel that the Equality Act should be passed, the singer wrote in an Instagram caption. I urge you to write to your senators too.
The closing title of the You Need to Calm Down video also directs fans to the petition, noting, Lets show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally.
You Need to Calm Down follows Me! as the first tracks from Lover, out August 23rd. Swift recently appeared on Instagram Live to reveal the details for her album, which will have four different deluxe versions available for the physical release. She did not reveal the official track list, but did say the album will include 18 songs along with voice memos from her songwriting and recording sessions, just like on deluxe editions of 1989. The album is available to pre-order now.
Swift will also collaborate with British fashion designer Stella McCartney on a new collection, which will be inspired by the albums songs. Shes been a friend for a really long time, and also just a woman I respect so much, Swift revealed during her Instagram Live appearance. I respect what she creates, how she creates it. Theres so much whimsy and imagination and romance to the clothing that she designs, and Ive worn a lot of her stuff recently.