Similarly to “You Need to Calm Down”, right after the 2020 elections Swift released a song titled “Only the Young” which though is not political in the sense or LGBT rights, but it represents another part of President Trump’s administration that was heavily criticized – guns rights in regards to school shootings. “So everyday now, you brace for the sound you’ve only heard on TV” makes this clear. This starts the lineage of Swift being political in her music, something that literally had never been seen before in regards to the overall discography that Swift had created for over 10 years. Though this is not a direct reference to “You Need to Calm Down” it goes along with the theme of democratic policies and how Republican policies can be viewed as harmful to the general public. The phrasing that is directly aimed at President Trump (“they don’t want to help us, too busy helping themselves”) shows that Swift has grown out of the little girl country category that she got locked into when she became famous and creates a new overall persona for herself in the political world.

Additionally, Swift’s “The Man” was a political shot at President Trump and the overall patriarchy. Throughout this song, Swift thinks about how her life would be different in regards to the way that it is talked about as well as the way that she is treated. Though this also does not talk about the LGBT community it follows the same lineage of “The Man” and of “Only the Young” in the new found political and bold statement footsteps of the songs that Swift had been releasing at the time.

Similarly to “You Need to Calm Down”, “Born this Way” by Lady Gaga touches on some pressing issues in the LGBT community. Released many years before “You Need to Calm Down” it proves that these problems are just as prevalent today as they were back in the 2000’s. The thematic connection between the two is incredibly clear. Allow people to be who they want, and do not interfere with it. These songs construct a history of critique of homophobic people and how the LGBT community becomes opressed when people dont let them live freely. 

Overall, these three songs create a clear path of Taylor Swift’s overall message to her listeners. People deserve to live freely and be who they want and how they want, regardless of what the higher powers may say. The fact that singers still feel the need to sing about issues like this, so long after “Born this Way” was released by Lady Gaga shows the true problem in this country – we do not allow people to live how they want. All three songs, and the fourth of “You Need to Calm Down” focus on the overall idea that ideologies need to change in order to create freedom and equality for all, and without that this country is going to stay in its true misogynistic and homophobic form that it is in.