"You Need to Calm Down" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on June 14, 2019, as the second single from her seventh studio album, Lover (2019). The fourteenth track on the album, Swift wrote and produced the song with Joel Little. "You Need to Calm Down" is an upbeat electropop and synth-pop song, with a chorus of ascending echoes. Its lyrics see Swift address internet trolls and homophobes, voicing her support for the LGBTQ+ community. An accompanying lyric video was released on June 14, 2019. The music video was released on June 17, featuring an ensemble cast, directed by Swift and Drew Kirsch, and executive-produced by Swift and Todrick Hall. "You Need to Calm Down" divided music critics, some of whom praised the song for its catchiness and pro-LGBTQ+ message, while few others criticized its theme as confusing and cynical. Nevertheless, "You Need to Calm Down" is regarded as a gay anthem. The single reached number one in Scotland, and the top five in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. It debuted at the second spot on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the second consecutive top-two single from Lover and tying Swift with Madonna for the most number-two hits for a female artist in the chart's history. At the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards, the "You Need to Calm Down" music video received nine nominations, winning two: Video of the Year, which is Swift's second win in the category following "Bad Blood" (2015), and the Video for Good. The song also received a nomination for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 62nd Grammy Awards. Background and release On April 26, 2019, the title of the song was teased in the intro for the music video for "Me!" when Brendon Urie shouted the title in French. Later, it was revealed an "old-timey, 1940s-sounding instrumental version" of the song played in the background in the scene. On June 13, 2019, Swift announced on a livestream on Instagram that her upcoming album's second single, entitled "You Need to Calm Down", was to be released at midnight EDT on June 14 (04:00 UTC). A lyric video for the song was released together with the song on YouTube. The video contained several easter eggs, including changing the word "glad" to GLAAD, and highlighting "EA" letters as a reference to the Equality Act. The references