Taylor Swift has dropped the music video for “You Need to Calm Down” and the star-studded, LGBTQ anthem is a visual treat.
Ellen DeGeneres, Adam Lambert, Ryan Reynolds, Laverne Cox, RuPaul, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, the Queer Eye cast, Billy Porter, Ciara and Adam Rippon are among the many guests stars who appear in the anti-hate themed video, which debuts during Pride Month. At the end of the song, Katy Perry appears, dressed as a hamburger, and reunites with Swift, dressed as French fries.
The new song features Swift taking aim both at her haters and calling out those who attack the LGBTQ community. Her lyrics include a shout-out to GLAAD and lines like, “And control your urges to scream about all the people you hate / ‘Cause shade never made anybody less gay” and “You need to just stop, like can you just not step on his gown?”
The video, which Swift directed with Drew Kirsch, is set in a vibrant trailer park, where Swift and her famous friends take on anti-LGBT protesters and party, culminating in a massive food fight. Ferguson, who hosted Swift’s surprise performance at New York’s Stonewall Inn on Sunday night, appears in the video to marry husband Justin Mikita, officiated by Ciara; RuPaul hosts a drag queen competition; Lambert gives DeGeneres a tattoo and more.
The video ends with a title card asking viewers to sign Swift’s petition for Senate support of the Equality Act on Change.org. “Let’s show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally,” reads the message.
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Ahead of Pride Month, Swift wrote a letter to Sen. Lamar Alexander, from her home state of Tennessee, urging him to consider increased protections for the LGBTQ community and to support the Equality Act.
Before the song and music video’s release, Swift teased that the video was worth the wait. “There’s a lot going on in the video. I wanted that to be a separate discovery,” she said during an Instagram Live that included the album and single announcements.
Swift debuted the video on ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday. “I want to say that my co-stars in this video are AMAZING,” Swift wrote on Twitter when sharing the YouTube link. “Please celebrate by supporting their work, following them, and going to see them perform. I’m SO grateful and SO EXCITED I ACTUALLY DO NEED TO CALM DOWN.”
The song is the second single off Swift’s seventh studio album Lover, which will be released Aug. 23. “You Need to Calm Down” follows the album’s lead single “ME!,” which features Brendon Urie.
Watch the full “You Need to Calm Down” music video below.
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Jackie Strause contributed to this story.
