Taylor Swift puts Katy Perry beef to rest in new music video featuring both artists
Taylor Swift is shaking off her longstanding beef with Katy Perry.
The singers hug it out in Swift’s video for “You Need To Calm Down,” out this morning and the second single off her upcoming album “Lover.”
While the single signaled Swift’s latest contribution to LGBTQ rights, the video is anything but calm given its host of celebrity cameos. Swift’s notorious frenemy Perry appears, along with others including Ellen DeGeneres, Ryan Reynolds, RuPaul, Ciara and the men of “Queer Eye.”
In the video, 29-year-old Swift, dressed as a pack of french fries, spots an orange-haired Perry, 34, in a crowd, with the latter dressed as a burger. The two slowly move toward each other, Swift hesitantly waving as a chaotic food fight around them continues and stereotypical bigots hold misspelled signs broadcasting their homophobia. The women hug, or try to, given the bulbous costumes, and Perry looks gleefully at Swift when the shot pans out in the shape of a heart.
The formerly feuding ladies have each since posted the shot of them hugging on Instagram, with Swift captioning the photo, “A happy meal,” and Perry writing, “This meal is BEEF-free #MeatFreeMonday.”
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Shortly before Swift dropped the single last week, Perry took to Instagram to post a pile of chocolate chip cookies on a plate that read “Peace At Last,” marked by two peace signs. Perry tagged the location as “Let’s Be Friends” and captioned it, “Feels good taylorswift,” signifying that their yearslong buzzy feud had finally been resolved.
Swift and Perry appeared to be close until a trio of backup dancers abandoned Swift’s 2013-2014 Red Tour to work on Perry’s Prismatic World Tour. Though Swift never officially confirmed Perry was the culprit, she told Rolling Stone that a female artist “basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour. She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me.” The conflict resulted in Swift’s track, “Bad Blood,” a series of cryptic tweets from Perry and eventually Perry’s song, “Swish Swish.” Perry changed her tune back in 2017, saying, “I love her, and I want the best for her,” and “I forgive her and I’m sorry for anything I ever did.”
“You Need To Calm Down” made headlines when the song was released for further cementing Swift as an LGBTQ ally, most notably for her lyrical reference to gay rights group GLAAD: “Why are you mad? When you could be GLAAD?”
After the single’s release, GLAAD donations spiked Friday, and later that night, Swift gave a surprise performance at the Stonewall Inn.
“Thank you for having me Stonewall, and happy Pride!” Swift yelled to the audience.
Since the start of this June’s Pride celebrations, which mark 50 years since the Stonewall riots of 1969, the songstress has been outspoken about her stance on related issues, spearheading a letter to Tenn. Sen. Lamar Alexander on behalf of the Equality Act.