Taylor Swift’s “You Need to Calm Down” is a blatant callout of the patriarchal institutions that have been implemented in society for centuries. First of all, the title alone reclaims the phrase so many women and gender minorities hear any time they advocate for themselves and their communities in terms of gender equality. The irony of it is that oftentimes when a man tells a woman or other gender minority group to “calm down,” he is really just communicating discomfort with their usually more progressive views. He is seeing the institution of patriarchy that inherently allows him to hold power as being threatened.
Swift also directly calls out men that have attempted to tear her down, with Donald Trump being the most notable. She sings “You say it in the street, that’s a knock-out / But you say it in a Tweet, that’s a cop-out,” which is obviously directed at Trump’s bullying messages on Twitter (before he was banned). Next, Swift asks a general question to these oppressive male listeners in the form of “Why you mad? / When you could be GLAAD?” Until reading these lyrics, I had not realized that what sounds like “glad” was actually “GLAAD,” an acronym for “Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation,” an organization founded in protest against defamatory coverage of members of the LGBTQ+ community. This lyric communicates Swift’s advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community, something that she is openly passionate about.
Furthermore, she asks her listeners to “not step on our gowns,” urging people to allow others to do as they please without unsolicited feedback or criticism. Swift even declares that some people need to “control [their] urges to scream about the people [they hate] / ‘Cause shade never made anybody less gay.” This communicates the same message of sexuality not being a choice as Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way, another LGBTQ+ anthem.
To continue, Swift also reverses the phrase “you’re being too loud” to reflect against those who tolerate members of the LBGTQ+ community but wish they weren’t so “loud.” This relates directly to Pat Parker’s “For Straight Folks Who Don’t Mind Gays But Wish They Weren’t So Blatant,” in which Parker acknowledges the hypocritical manner in which straight people speak openly about their own heterosexual relationships in detail but express discomfort when gay and lesbian folks do the same.
While “You Need to Calm Down” is a clear dig at the patriarchy and an anthem in support of oppressed communities, the singer/songwriter is a straight, white, cisgender woman. Her allyship is valuable, and she can relate first-hand to the struggles of women, but she cannot personally relate to those of the LGBTQ+ community. She features the cast of Queer Eye in the music video, putting a spotlight on LGBTQ+ popular culture icons, but Swift herself is not a member of the community.
Taylor Swift is my favorite artist for multiple reasons, with this song (and similar ones) being one of them. Your analysis is great and I had no idea that GLAAD was an acronym. I love how she called out Trump who was constantly criticizing her. I also respect how she is using her platform for change. Amazing job and yay Taylor Swift!
I’ve heard this song plenty of times but never listened to the lyrics that closely. I had no idea what it was about or that it was a direct callout against patriarchal and homophobic ideologies, that’s so cool! It is refreshing to see celebrities/artists with an understanding of the power they hold in pop culture, and who are using their platform to advocate for others.
I have never heard this song before. I am not a huge Talyor Swift fan, but I found this song very interesting. I can connect to the idea about telling women to call down and it reminds me of the common phrases I also hear by men such as “your tripping”, “your crazy”, or “chill out”. I feel like this terminology negatively impacts people because it is assuming that their feeling are invalid and wrong. It really bothers me when people tell me that. I also question the legitimacy of her using of the LGBTQ community. Even if she is an ally, does she have the right to profit off of singing about these issues? I don’t know the answer to this question, but it is something to think about.
I had the same question myself about the legitimacy of her support. Especially because at the beginning of the song she discussed her experience with hateful comments online, which I’m not sure is comparable to the hate and violence experienced by the LGBTQ+ community. While I heard that GLAAD did receive more donations after the release of the video, I am usually skeptical of products released during Pride Month because of many companies’ tendency to capitalize on queerness as a market. I think this relates to our conversations about homocapitalism and poses interesting questions about the ethics of Taylor’s activism.
This is a really good point! Rainbow-washing during Pride Month commoditizes the LGBTQ+ community and I had a similar fear when I first heard this song. It also makes me question how one can be a supportive ally without invalidating someone’s experiences by claiming to understand them. It rmakes me question- how different would the response to this song be if it were sung by a queer artist? But it’s also important to acknowledge that most of the time, marginalized artists are not the ones with the most fame, so if we want representation, we have to get it from wherever we can, even if at times it’s inaccurate or is done just for the sake of tapping into a popular market. This also reminds me of a speech by Rick Riordan where he talks about how it’s his duty as a straight, white, cis, popular YA author of today to include diversity and representation in his books even when he himself can’t relate to the characters, but that he has to put in the extra effort to make the representation accurate and authentic.
https://rickriordan.com/2017/06/the-stonewall-award/
Thank you for sharing this analysis! I’ve heard this song many times, but now I listen to the song in a different way after reading your analysis. Do you think there are limitations to Taylor Swift’s speaking for the LGBT+ community since she is a heterosexual, cis-woman? When I first heard the song, I thought she was just telling other people to calm down, but as you’ve identified, she is really just mocking the homophobic people in society who ask LGBT+ people to “calm down.”
You did a great job in presenting some of the issues in relation to this song. I believe i have heard this song somewhere but never got a change to pay the close attention to the details in the lytis and the message it portrays. I didn’t realise it was blatant callout of the patriarchal institutions. You did a great job in unpacking and analyzing lyris in details like how you mentioned that glad” was actually “GLAAD,” an acronym for “Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation,” an organization founded in protest against defamatory coverage of members of the LGBTQ+ community. The overall message is very concise and clear tot the point.