For most of her career thus far, Taylor Swift’s cultural outputs have remained apolitical, often addressing heteronormative notions of romance, young adult life, and heartbreak. In 2019, Swift broke her politicised silence with ‘You Need to Calm Down’, a track which self-proclaims the artist as an ally to LGBTQ+ communities through her co-option of language historically used to silence marginalised voices, and the inclusion of LGBTQ+-identified celebrities in the accompanying music video. Through a critical technocultural discourse analysis (CTDA) approach, and incorporating digital ethnography, this article examines and compares the multimodal response to ‘You Need to Calm Down’ on TikTok and Twitter. CTDA multimodal analysis is utilised as a method to ascertain both the cultural situatedness of the track, its reception through digital spaces, and also how that reception is connected to the conventions of each platform. Through an analysis of over 20,000 tweets utilising the #YouNeedToCalmDown hashtag, and over 100 TikTok videos based on the track, I examine platform-specific discourse: the de-politicised mimetic creativity of TikTok in comparison to the more hegemonic interpretations found on Twitter. Discussion is organised around three themes of response to ‘You Need to Calm Down’: online communities and ambient affiliations, performative allyship, and cancel culture.

迄今为止，泰勒·斯威夫特 (Taylor Swift) 的大部分职业生涯中，其文化成果一直与政治无关，经常涉及异性恋观念，如浪漫、年轻的成年生活和心碎。2019 年，斯威夫特用“你需要冷静下来”打破了她政治化的沉默，这首歌曲通过她对历史上用来压制边缘化声音的语言的共同选择，以及对 LGBTQ+ 的包容，自称这位艺术家是 LGBTQ+ 社区的盟友- 随附音乐视频中的名人。通过批判性技术文化话语分析 (CTDA) 方法，并结合数字民族志，本文检查并比较了 TikTok 和 Twitter 上对“你需要冷静下来”的多模态反应。CTDA 多模态分析被用作一种方法来确定轨道的文化位置、它通过数字空间的接收、以及该接收如何与每个平台的惯例相关联。通过对使用#YouNeedToCalmDown 标签的 20,000 多条推文和基于该曲目的 100 多个 TikTok 视频的分析，我研究了特定于平台的话语：与 Twitter 上发现的更具霸权性的解释相比，TikTok 的去政治化模仿创造力。讨论围绕“你需要冷静”的三个主题进行：在线社区和环境从属关系、表演联盟和取消文化。与 Twitter 上更具霸权性的解释相比，TikTok 的去政治化模仿创造力。讨论围绕“你需要冷静”的三个主题进行：在线社区和环境从属关系、表演联盟和取消文化。与 Twitter 上更具霸权性的解释相比，TikTok 的去政治化模仿创造力。讨论围绕“你需要冷静”的三个主题进行：在线社区和环境从属关系、表演联盟和取消文化。