With Madonna dropping her divisive new album Madame X last week, the torch of 2019 pop divadom has now officially been passed along to Janet Jackson and Taylor Swift, both of whom have new albums on the horizon. And today, we’ve received a vibrant taste of the latter’s forthcoming project—her seventh long player entitled Lover due to arrive August 23rd—in the form of the new star-packed video for “You Need To Calm Down,” which follows the recent unveiling of lead single “ME!”
Featuring an apparent beef-squashing reconciliation of differences with Katy Perry and cameo appearances by Ellen DeGeneres, Billy Porter, Ryan Reynolds, and RuPaul among many others, the video functions as the technicolor manifestation of Swift’s heightened vocal support of LGBTQ rights during Pride month.
On June 1st, Swift penned a letter to Tennessee senator Lamar Alexander, urging him to support the Equality Act, which purports to end discrimination against individuals who identify as LGBTQ. In the closing frame of the video, she offers a call-to-action that reads, “Let’s show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally” and encourages viewers to sign her Change.org petition for Senate support of the Equality Act.
WATCH: