Taylor Swift - "You Need To Calm Down"

[Baggy]

I said that reputation was HER least successful era so far, and also pointed out that other artists would kill for success like that. It was only underwhelming in the sense that it felt less eventful than her past albums/eras. I didn't say it wasn't successful in general.

[aussie1]

I'm very interested to see the call outs for this.

[Az Paynter]

POP:
11 11 TAYLOR SWIFT You Need To Calm Down 8870 8418 452 40.869

+68 Spins
-194 Bullet
+0.103 Audience

HOT AC:
14 12 TAYLOR SWIFT You Need To Calm Down 2878 2528 350 14.956

+50 Spins
-28 Bullet
+0.088 Audience

[Az Paynter]

POP:
11 10 TAYLOR SWIFT You Need To Calm Down 8992 8442 550 41.147

+122 Spins
+98 Bullet
+0.278 Audience

HOT AC:
14 12 TAYLOR SWIFT You Need To Calm Down 2944 2568 376 15.125

+66 Spins
+26 Bullet
+0.169 Audience

[james518]

Jul 16, 2019 9:33:30 GMT -5 lasvegaskid said:

Jul 9, 2019 2:45:44 GMT -5 Joe1240 said:

This week stays at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart.Holding stable this week. At least its not a drop. :)

Drops to #16 this week. Tay is toast.

Lolz k

[Deleted]

The model of popstars is just changing. Just like the late 90s/early 00's Britney-esque poptart model died out around 2010 for more "wacky/weird" Gaga-esque popstars, which then died down to more toned-down "relatable" popstars.

All that said, her songs aren't sticking like they used to but she's still fine. The song/video is cute and would've been a big viral moment a few years ago (just like Cardi's "Press" would've been).

[kcdawg13]

Jul 16, 2019 11:06:52 GMT -5 @swella said:

The model of popstars is just changing. Just like the late 90s/early 00's Britney-esque poptart model died out around 2010 for more "wacky/weird" Gaga-esque popstars, which then died down to more toned-down "relatable" popstars.

All that said, her songs aren't sticking like they used to but she's still fine. The song/video is cute and would've been a big viral moment a few years ago (just like Cardi's "Press" would've been).

The video was a big viral moment, but the song was not. Everyone was talking about the video, "omg did you see Katy and Taylor hug?!?!" there was barely any mention of the song. Now that the video hype has died down, where does the song go? Nowhere, and it seems that's whats happening here.

Maybe it'll get decent call-outs and move up, but I can't see that happening after how both ME! and Never Really Over were treated. 

[deepston]

I just can't understand why Katy and Taylor thought that making songs for kids in 2019 was a hot move. I mean, 7 rings is one of the biggest songs of the year, that should tell you something...

[David]

This song is Top 10 on Pop radio.... #7 right now on iTunes.... got to #2 on the Hot 100. It's really not doing that bad.... her bar is just set so high because of "1989".

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

Jul 16, 2019 12:29:35 GMT -5 deepston said:

I just can't understand why Katy and Taylor thought that making songs for kids in 2019 was a hot move. I mean, 7 rings is one of the biggest songs of the year, that should tell you something...

Katy was going back to what she was known for. It was an obvious move that didn’t work as well as it could or should but I think she was kind of backed into a corner. Do what people claimed to want (ie, not Witness apparently) or do something completely different and alienate even more. She’s in a no-win situation.

Taylor is taking a lazy way by going for more immediate songs because it has been working for her but at some point it’s going to catch up with her and I think it is now. Her next album should step back toward guitar pop - it’s not going to be as instant or big but I also think if she continues on her pop trajectory, she’s going to lose people either way. At least by stepping back to focusing on telling stories with her lyrics using a more authentic sound, she can use that to her advantage in securing a better legacy as she nears that point in her career.

[deepston]

Jul 16, 2019 12:41:37 GMT -5 Rose "Payola" Nylund said:

Jul 16, 2019 12:29:35 GMT -5 deepston said:

I just can't understand why Katy and Taylor thought that making songs for kids in 2019 was a hot move. I mean, 7 rings is one of the biggest songs of the year, that should tell you something...

Katy was going back to what she was known for. It was an obvious move that didn’t work as well as it could or should but I think she was kind of backed into a corner. Do what people claimed to want (ie, not Witness apparently) or do something completely different and alienate even more. She’s in a no-win situation.

Taylor is taking a lazy way by going for more immediate songs because it has been working for her but at some point it’s going to catch up with her and I think it is now. Her next album should step back toward guitar pop - it’s not going to be as instant or big but I also think if she continues on her pop trajectory, she’s going to lose people either way. At least by stepping back to focusing on telling stories with her lyrics using a more authentic sound, she can use that to her advantage in securing a better legacy as she nears that point in her career.

I mean, I understand Katy literally has no way out because this is the sound she has been known for.

Now, Taylor has done so much versatile work in the past. I'm not saying she should go full "End Game" and become a rap pop girl like Ariana but she should explore new sub-genres of pop. Making this type of songs feels like 10 steps back for her. Where is the creativity and "songcraft" that she has always bragged about?
There is no denying that "ME!" and "YNTCD" only had (tiny) legs because of the Taylor Swift name that is attached to them. If Bebe Rexha released the same songs they would be #100 on Bubbling Under.
Even "Red" sound would perform better than this, I just can't understand where her mind is. Obviously she's trying to have a big era here but it's so obvious none of this was poised to be incredibly popular...

[kimberly]

Jul 16, 2019 12:51:20 GMT -5 deepston said:

I think one very important ingredient Taylor has been leaving out is her personal life/storytelling in her music. I'm not saying Mac's death or Ariana-Davidson split were "good" but they helped the general public understand her music and be more excited about it. That, and she started writing on her songs.

I don't think every good Taylor song should sound like "All Too Well," but even "...Ready For It?" had more of an underlying drama factor with her secretive Joe Alwyn relationship. "ME!" and "YNTCD" are both preachy, vain, not very good. She's getting too comfortable being the pop girl she is that her songwriting fades into the background of that idea of "THE Taylor Swift".

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

Jul 14, 2019 3:43:44 GMT -5 nick64 said:

 I don’t think any of the Reputation singles have had that type of lasting impact (and this is coming from someone who has Reputation as the most successful album ever on his personal chart...four year end Top 10s, three of which were singles).

Randomly, LWYMMD was on the playlist of my cycle class last night and it was kind of jarring to hear, considering Shake It Off actually has a higher BPM. Based on the performance of ME! and YNTCD, I don't think there is going to be a cultural moment coming out of this album. It will sell alot, and she'll sell out stadiums again on tour. 

[👑 Eloquent ™]

I don't exactly get a doom and gloom vibe from this era that seems to be peaking its head. I mean this isn't smashing it out of the park, but it isn't exactly failing either (#2 Hot 100, looking top 10 on pop/hot a.c., healthy streaming etc). lol Idk why, especially after the slew of questionable single performances from Rep, people still have sky high expectations for Taylor. Like, adjust expectations people. She is no longer the biggest girl in the game so she isn't gonna be churning out #1 after #1 or dominating as consistently. Is the quality of her latest two singles up to what I would consider amazing? No. Especially "Me!", but that is quality. "Me!" Was undeniably an under-perfomer (charts-wise) all things considered, but this, this is a hit and is doing fine. I notice people can be really weird with Taylor here. Like during the Rep era all the talk was "flop" or "under-performer" this and that and now looking back people are like "unproblematic era", "was successful". lol I think whe could release Witness 2.0 and some would still expect a #1 debut from the followup. Taylor is no Ariana at this point in her career. lol

[surfy]

We act like wasn’t releasing WANEGBT, 22, Shake It Off, LWYMMD, etc. before this cycle. She has stayed releasing vapid, catchy pop songs ever since she started the pop sound, especially on singles before the album is out. I’m not worried. She debuted at #2, has stayed in the top 20, is doing well in all aspects. Y’all are just always dramatic when it comes to Taylor’s performance. Yes her viral moment didn’t go off like we planned, but you can’t force viral. It just doesn’t work. The song is standard, it’s doing fine, we haven’t even gotten callouts yet and it’s near the top 10 on pop (where every standard pop song halts in performance) I just don’t see the big deal.

[nickd]

One big departure from these two songs compared to her previous albums (including reputation) is that they don't feel as personal and more like her trying to write songs for her fans - while still trying to tie herself to the songs but not particularly effectively.

I do wonder if that's representative of the album - from the hints she's been giving it seems like it shouldn't be - but if it is she is losing a big part of what makes people talk about her music (and if it is I wonder if she's reluctant to get as personal or if it's just that the last couple years haven't been that eventful for her?).

[deepston]

Jul 16, 2019 15:53:37 GMT -5 surfy said:

We act like wasn’t releasing WANEGBT, 22, Shake It Off, LWYMMD, etc. before this cycle. She has stayed releasing vapid, catchy pop songs ever since she started the pop sound, especially on singles before the album is out. I’m not worried. She debuted at #2, has stayed in the top 20, is doing well in all aspects. Y’all are just always dramatic when it comes to Taylor’s performance. Yes her viral moment didn’t go off like we planned, but you can’t force viral. It just doesn’t work. The song is standard, it’s doing fine, we haven’t even gotten callouts yet and it’s near the top 10 on pop (where every standard pop song halts in performance) I just don’t see the big deal.

Every single song that you cited might be vapid but they address her story and life. They feel personal. They wouldn't belong in anyone else's catalogue.
ME! and YNTCD are, however, songs that could be sung by anybody...

I'm more concerned with the (lack of) quality of the singles and not with their chart performance. She has proved time and time again that when quality is there, the chart performance is usually incredible.

[yuh yuh]

I must agree with the people worrying about the quality of her music this era. Reputation might not have been her strongest era or among those but it had great music. Lover era feels very dissapointing. ME! burned on me rapidly and YNTCD is really boring. Still hope to hear at least a couple of good tracks by Taylor on her new album.

[ampersand]

Chart performance aside (I don’t really care that much), I agree with deepston that the issue with these songs for me is that they don’t feel personal. The lyrics to “ME!” are so generic that I wouldn’t be surprised if they were cooked up in some spaceship by aliens who are trying to reproduce the perfect formula of a pop song written by actual humans. Literally any pop girl could have sung that. YNTCD is also just another fluff song about her haters (she has better songs about this subject in her catalogue) that is only mildly more interesting because of the shoe-horned second verse about homophobes.

It’s not really surprising, as someone has already said on the previous page, that the most talked about moment in the video was her mending her relationship with her longtime archnemsis Katy Perry. People care about her personal life and a large part of the interest in her music is that she basically puts everything (under a thinly-veiled guise, of course) out there. I had to rme when she was doing interview after interview talking about all the Easter eggs she had in the “ME!” video that hinted at album details and future songs. That’s really the best angle she could have used to promote this era? Snooze.

[Az Paynter]

POP:
11 10 TAYLOR SWIFT You Need To Calm Down 9125 8507 618 41.710

+133 Spins
+68 Bullet
+0.563 Audience

HOT AC:
14 12 TAYLOR SWIFT You Need To Calm Down 3008 2612 396 15.480

+64 Spins
+20 Bullet
+0.355 Audience

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

Jul 16, 2019 15:13:23 GMT -5 👑 Eloquent ™ said:

I don't exactly get a doom and gloom vibe from this era that seems to be peaking its head. I mean this isn't smashing it out of the park, but it isn't exactly failing either (#2 Hot 100, looking top 10 on pop/hot a.c., healthy streaming etc). lol Idk why, especially after the slew of questionable single performances from Rep, people still have sky high expectations for Taylor. Like, adjust expectations people. She is no longer the biggest girl in the game so she isn't gonna be churning out #1 after #1 or dominating as consistently. Is the quality of her latest two singles up to what I would consider amazing? No. Especially "Me!", but that is quality. "Me!" Was undeniably an under-perfomer (charts-wise) all things considered, but this, this is a hit and is doing fine. I notice people can be really weird with Taylor here. Like during the Rep era all the talk was "flop" or "under-performer" this and that and now looking back people are like "unproblematic era", "was successful". lol I think whe could release Witness 2.0 and some would still expect a #1 debut from the followup. Taylor is no Ariana at this point in her career. lol

On paper, it looks okay. She's probably going to do well enough when the album drops too but I think the call for potential doom and gloom is justified. She doesn't have the stronghold she used to have. It's perfectly fine that she doesn't. She's had it for years. But I think ignoring the fact that she's on the decline is as silly as the people who hold her to the same standards of popularity that she had at her peak. In the end, she'll be fine. She's following the same trajectory as every superstar before her. What she needs to focus on at this point is how she wants to deal with that. By grasping at straws to maintain her top-of-the-world position or by securing a strong legacy with her music post-peak. The harder she works at delivering a solid message, the longer people will tune in. If she keeps up with the run-of-the-mill flash-in-the-pan pop songs, she'll lose long-term listeners and damage her legacy.

[👑 Eloquent ™]

Jul 17, 2019 19:39:10 GMT -5 Rose "Payola" Nylund said:

Jul 16, 2019 15:13:23 GMT -5 👑 Eloquent ™ said:

I don't exactly get a doom and gloom vibe from this era that seems to be peaking its head. I mean this isn't smashing it out of the park, but it isn't exactly failing either (#2 Hot 100, looking top 10 on pop/hot a.c., healthy streaming etc). lol Idk why, especially after the slew of questionable single performances from Rep, people still have sky high expectations for Taylor. Like, adjust expectations people. She is no longer the biggest girl in the game so she isn't gonna be churning out #1 after #1 or dominating as consistently. Is the quality of her latest two singles up to what I would consider amazing? No. Especially "Me!", but that is quality. "Me!" Was undeniably an under-perfomer (charts-wise) all things considered, but this, this is a hit and is doing fine. I notice people can be really weird with Taylor here. Like during the Rep era all the talk was "flop" or "under-performer" this and that and now looking back people are like "unproblematic era", "was successful". lol I think whe could release Witness 2.0 and some would still expect a #1 debut from the followup. Taylor is no Ariana at this point in her career. lol

On paper, it looks okay. She's probably going to do well enough when the album drops too but I think the call for potential doom and gloom is justified. She doesn't have the stronghold she used to have. It's perfectly fine that she doesn't. She's had it for years. But I think ignoring the fact that she's on the decline is as silly as the people who hold her to the same standards of popularity that she had at her peak. In the end, she'll be fine. She's following the same trajectory as every superstar before her. What she needs to focus on at this point is how she wants to deal with that. By grasping at straws to maintain her top-of-the-world position or by securing a strong legacy with her music post-peak. The harder she works at delivering a solid message, the longer people will tune in. If she keeps up with the run-of-the-mill flash-in-the-pan pop songs, she'll lose long-term listeners and damage her legacy.

She was in decline during Reputation. With this, if anything, she is leveling out/maintaining. The doom and gloom is certainly premature. "Me!" might have been one of your proclaimed "flash in the pans", but this one is doing well.

[Joe1240]

This song is holding on well on radio and it just hit 100 Million streams on Spotify. Taylor will be fine long-term,she has always been a album seller more than a singles artist her whole career, look at past eras before "1989". Taylor may not be hitting it on the charts the same way Ariana Grande did last year ,but she is doing just fine where she is at. The songs just need a bit of longevity and to hold more of the charts.

[Deleted]

All she needs is a great song. IMO the singles from the last 2 albums were all only good, but at this point she’s gonna need them to be great to have those huge hits.

[kimberly]

Jul 17, 2019 21:46:37 GMT -5 Joe1240 said:

This song is holding on well on radio and it just hit 100 Million streams on Spotify. Taylor will be fine long-term,she has always been a album seller more than a singles artist her whole career, look at past eras before "1989". Taylor may not be hitting it on the charts the same way Ariana Grande did last year ,but she is doing just fine where she is at. The songs just need a bit of longevity and to hold more of the charts.

Longevity is not typical of a ts single anyway so if it sticks around for longer than ME we're good (and that really shouldn't be challenging)

[Janhova's Witness]

I just want good music. And, “Delicate” aside, her last great single was “Out Of The Woods”... nine releases ago. For somebody with quality albums, her team’s single choices are abysmal. I’m holding onto that fact to try and convince myself that this album isn’t total garbage and will actually be amazing!

[Naos]

Japan Hot 100: #96 (-31)

[born]

Well I'm hoping they're putting out another song from the album next week or the week after. The album release date is getting closer and closer and there's no way they're gonna ride with just the first two singles.

PS: I hope the rumor about the soundtrack single is just a rumor, it kinda feels too early.

[nickd]

Jul 18, 2019 5:14:55 GMT -5 born said:

Well I'm hoping they're putting out another song from the album next week or the week after. The album release date is getting closer and closer and there's no way they're gonna ride with just the first two singles.

PS: I hope the rumor about the soundtrack single is just a rumor, it kinda feels too early.

According to an alleged insider on the Taylor Swift subreddit there's going to be a promo single out on the 26th and a 3rd single some time before the album.

[Joe1240]

I have faith as a fan for so many years that the album will be better. Hope something happens although to relive this era. The album is 5 weeks away and the only excitement is coming from us Swift fans. A 3rd Single could help this era a lot. In context, these two singles might sound better when the whole album is out like “Look What You Made Me Do” did.