...Ready for It?
2017 single by Taylor Swift From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"...Ready for It?" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her sixth studio album, Reputation (2017). She wrote the song with its producers: Max Martin, Shellback, and Ali Payami. An electro, electropop and industrial pop song, "...Ready for It?" incorporates elements of dancehall, tropical house, hip-hop, and trap. It features Swift rapping and singing over heavy synthesizers, bass drops, and programmed drums. Lyrically, the track uses criminal imagery such as bank heist and ransom to depict lust and infatuation in a newfound romantic connection.
| "...Ready for It?" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
BloodPop remix artwork | ||||
| Single by Taylor Swift | ||||
| from the album Reputation | ||||
| Released | October 24, 2017 | |||
| Studio | MXM (Stockholm) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:28 | |||
| Label | Big Machine | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) |
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| Taylor Swift singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "...Ready for It?" on YouTube | ||||
The song premiered in a college football match by ESPN on September 2, 2017, before being released for digital download the following day. Big Machine Records released the track to US radio as the second single from Reputation on October 24, 2017. Music critics generally described the production of "...Ready for It?" as anthemic and appropriate for live stadium concerts and as an opener for the Reputation era. While most reviews praised the production elements, several regarded the track as generic and indiscernible from mainstream trends and the rapping cadence awkward.
The single peaked within the top ten on charts and received platinum certifications in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The accompanying music video, directed by Joseph Kahn, features a dark, futuristic aesthetic and references sci-fi franchises. It depicts two versions of Swift dueling each other: a black-hooded human version and a mechanized, robotic version. Swift performed "...Ready for It?" live as the opener on the Reputation Stadium Tour (2018) and the first song of the Reputation act on the Eras Tour (2023–2024).
Background and release
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Taylor Swift released her fifth studio album, 1989, in October 2014. 1989's synth-pop production transformed Swift's sound and image from country-oriented to mainstream pop.[1] Although the album propelled Swift's status to a global pop star,[2] she was a target of tabloid gossip.[3] Publicized celebrity disputes and short-lived relationships blemished her "America's Sweetheart" reputation,[4][5] making her seclude from interactions with the press.[6] During a self-imposed hiatus, she conceived her sixth studio album, Reputation, as an answer to the media commotion surrounding her celebrity.[7]
On September 2, 2017, Swift premiered a snippet of "...Ready for It?" during ABC's Saturday Night Football broadcast of ESPN's Florida State vs. Alabama college football game.[8] A day after the snippet premiered, the track was released for digital download by Big Machine Records, as part of Reputation's pre-order.[9][10] It was the second song released from Reputation, after the lead single "Look What You Made Me Do".[11][12] In the United States, although the track initially was not actively promoted to radio, pop radio stations proactively aired it, thus making it gain traction on airplay throughout September and October 2017.[13][14] It was officially promoted to US rhythmic contemporary radio on October 24, 2017, as the album's second single,[15] by Big Machine Records.[16] A remix by BloodPop was released on December 10, 2017.[17]
Music and lyrics
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Swift wrote "...Ready for It?" with its producers: Max Martin, Shellback, and Ali Payami. Martin and Shellback recorded the track at MXM Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. All three producers programmed the song and played keyboards on it. "...Ready for It?" was mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound Studios in New York City.[18] In the 2024 documentary Taylor Swift vs Scooter Braun: Bad Blood, a former personal assistant for Swift during the 1989 World Tour in 2015 revealed that she first wrote the song on a plane during the tour.[19]
A genre-blending song,[20] "...Ready for It?" is a maximalist[21] electro,[22][23] electropop,[24][25] and industrial pop track[24][26] with elements of dancehall,[27][28] reggae,[29] hip-hop,[29] and trap music.[30] The song is written in the key of E minor with a tempo of 80 beats per minute, and Swift's vocals span from G3 to E5.[31] It is driven by heavy synths, a tropical house-dancehall chorus,[27][32] dubstep bass drops,[27][33] EDM and trap beats,[22][20] programmed drum machines, and Swift's rapping-singing.[24][34][35] The track has dynamic shifts through each part:[36] it begins with abrasive dubstep bass beats and Swift clearing her throat, the verses feature her rapping, and the chorus has the production becoming more airy to make room for her singing with breathy vocals.[27][28][37] The production elements received comparisons to the music of Kanye West, particularly his 2013 album Yeezus,[24][26][30][38] and Rihanna.[39][40][41] According to Swift, "...Ready for It?" was her first collaboration with Martin and Shellback that she felt very different from their previous musical approach on 1989.[42]
Swift wrote "...Ready for It?" about finding a "partner in crime". She was influenced by the novel Crime and Punishment (1866) by Fyodor Dostoevsky to use criminal imagery such as bank robbers, thieves, and heists, finding it an interesting but also "twisted" way to write songs about finding love.[42] In the lyrics, Swift fantasizes about an individual whom she describes as a "killer" who has had multiple relationships and is "younger than her exes" but "acts like such a man". These fantasies include "holding him for ransom", committing a bank heist together, moving to a secret offshore location and being held in jail. Swift uses images of Hollywood romance, islands and going undercover so that "no one has to know".[10][27][43] She wants to keep this relationship private so that nobody can know about it[26] and compares her romance to that of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, implying the complications of stardom and privacy on her love life.[35][44]
Critical reception
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Upon its release, "...Ready for It?" was seen by many critics as an improvement from Reputation's lead single "Look What You Made Me Do".[27][32][34] Favorable reviews considered the song anthemic and catchy. Tom Breihan of Stereogum, Shahzaib Hussain of Clash, and Patrick Ryan of USA Today lauded the sound as defiant, anthemic, and colossal while embodying a dark aesthetic that represented Reputation,[27][34][45] and Mary Wang of Vogue described the track as both a love song and a stadium anthem.[46] In the views of Jon Caramanica of The New York Times, the maximalist pop of "...Ready for It?" represented a new musical direction for Swift, with "harsh sounds and urgent buildup segments to theatrical, bruising effect".[47] Breihan considered Swift's rapping unexpected but interesting and effective,[27] while Slant Magazine's Alexa Camp thought that the song was carefully constructed with catchy pop melodies and rapping cadences,[29] and The Music's Uppy Chatterjee opined that it should have been the lead single.[48] Kristen He from Billboard wrote that "...Ready for It?" showcased how Swift successfully used her voice as an instrument, in line with mainstream pop production choices, and hailed the chorus for featuring "one of the prettiest melodies of her career".[40]
Less enthusiastic reviews considered the production of "...Ready for It?" generic and the songwriting subpar. In Spin, Jordan Sargent acknowledged that the song is "melodically rich" but considered the metaphors clunky and ineffective and wrote that the song showcased Swift in a "mask" that lost her distinctiveness.[28] Craig Jenkins of Vulture similarly lamented that the track was an effort to keep up with mainstream trends and criticized Swift's experimentation with rapping and hip-hop as a cynical move for her artistic reinvention.[32] According to Frank Guan, also from Vulture, the song sounded too similar to other popular songs on radio.[30] The Daily Telegraph described the lyrics as "wonderfully cringeworthy",[26] and The New Zealand Herald's George Fenwick considered "...Ready for It?" one of the worst tracks off the album.[49]
Retrospective reviews have considered "...Ready for It?" an effective opener for Reputation. According to Billboard's Joe Lynch, when the song was first released, "casual listeners were confused, Swifties were challenged, and haters were given a bounty of fresh ammo".[21] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian thought that Swift's rapping was "better than you might expect" and highlighted the "impeccable hook" that had been absent in the lead single "Look What You Made Me Do".[50] Vulture's Nate Jones wrote that he disliked Swift's flow "borrowed from Jay-Z" but regarded the chorus as undeniable.[51] Stereogums ranked "...Ready for It?" among the 40 best pop songs of 2017,[52] and Variety's Chris Willman placed it at number 38 on his 2024 ranking of Swift's 75 best songs.[53]
Commercial performance
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In the United States, "...Ready for It?" debuted and peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated September 23, 2017,[54] becoming Swift's 22nd top 10-song and 14th top 10-debut. It also became her 13th number-one song on the Digital Songs chart and opened at 35 on the Pop Songs chart,[55] where it eventually peaked at number 12.[56] On other Billboard charts, "...Ready for It?" peaked at number 10 on Adult Pop Songs,[57] number 26 on Adult Contemporary,[58] and number 37 on Rhythmic.[59] In July 2018, the Recording Industry Association of America awarded the single a double-platinum certification in recognition of two million units sold in the United States.[60]
Elsewhere, "...Ready for It?" peaked atop the Israeli Media Forest airplay chart[61] and entered the top 10 on charts of Australia (number three),[62] Malaysia (six),[63] Canada (seven),[64] the United Kingdom (seven),[65] Greece (nine),[66] and New Zealand (nine).[67] The single reached the top 20 in Ireland, the Czech Republic, and Lebanon;[a] and top 40 in Austria, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden.[b] It has been certified six-times platinum in Australia;[75] double platinum in Brazil, Canada, and New Zealand;[c] and platinum in the United Kingdom.[79]
Music video
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The music video was directed by Joseph Kahn.[80] On October 23, 2017, Swift released a teaser of the music video for the song.[81] The teaser was met with controversy, with many online commentators and media outlets claiming that Swift was physically naked in the music video; many social media users criticized Swift's alleged nudity in the teaser. Subsequently, Swift posted an Instagram story denouncing the nudity claims alongside a selfie of her wearing a bodysuit, captioned "It truly warms my heart that ppl had so much to say about this bodysuit."[82][83][84] The full video premiered on October 26. The video features homage references to sci-fi and anime, such as Blade Runner, Tron, and Ghost in the Shell.[80][85][86]
The video starts with Swift dressed in a black cloak walking through an alley, making her way past several guards and typing in a code to access a room where a cyborg clone of Swift in a white bodysuit is being held inside a small cell. Graffiti seen on the walls are lyrics from the Reputation album. The cloaked Swift walks up to the cell walls and watches as the cyborg Swift transforms into several iterations – she wears futuristic armor, rides a white horse, manipulates various flickers of energy, and shoots lightning bolts from her fingertips. Eventually, the cyborg Swift breaks through the cell walls, with shards of glass cutting the cloaked Swift across the face, revealing she is a cyborg as well. The cyborg guards try to contain both of them to no avail, and the video ends with the white cyborg Swift walking away from her demolished cell and moving up an escalator. The video features two different versions of Swift. This is interpreted as the battle between the Swifts; her true self and the media's perception of her.[87]
Live performances
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Swift performed "...Ready for It?" for the first time during an episode of the 43rd season of Saturday Night Live on November 11, 2017;[88] she sang the track donning a cropped black sweatshirt and black shorts, backed by a quarter of backing vocalists and dancers.[89] In December 2017, she included "...Ready for It?" in the set lists of several concerts that she participated in, including KIIS-FM's Jingle Ball on December 1, in Inglewood, California,[90] 99.7 Now!'s Poptopia on December 3, in San Jose, California,[91] B96 Chicago and Pepsi Jingle Bash on December 7, in Chicago,[92] Z100 Jingle Ball in on December 8, in New York City,[93] and Jingle Bell Ball on December 10, in London, England.[94] On May 27, 2018, Swift performed "...Ready for It?" as the opening number to her set as part of BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend in Swansea, Wales.[95]
"...Ready for It?" was the opening number of Swift's 2018 Reputation Stadium Tour.[96] Before the performance began, the intro included news snippets discussing Swift's reputation. The screens onstage then parted, and Swift emerged onstage through the smoke,[97][98] wearing a black hoodie[99] before revealing herself in a sparkling black bodysuit and knee-high black boots.[100] On the Eras Tour (2023–2024), Swift performed "...Ready for It?" as the opening number for the Reputation segment,[101] which began with stage screens showing imagery of snakes. Swift appeared onstage in a one-legged black catsuit embroidered with snakes motifs.[102][103]
Personnel
Adapted from the liner notes of Reputation[18]
- Taylor Swift – lead vocals, background vocals, songwriter
- Max Martin – producer, songwriter, recording, keyboards, programming
- Shellback – producer, songwriter, recording, keyboards, programming
- Ali Payami – producer, songwriter, keyboards, programming
- Şerban Ghenea – mixing
- John Hanes – mix engineer
- Randy Merrill – mastering
Charts
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Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[75] | 6× Platinum | 420,000‡ |
| Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[76] | 2× Platinum | 120,000‡ |
| Canada (Music Canada)[77] | 2× Platinum | 160,000‡ |
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[133] | Gold | 45,000‡ |
| France (SNEP)[134] | Gold | 100,000‡ |
| Italy (FIMI)[135] | Gold | 50,000‡ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[78] | 2× Platinum | 60,000‡ |
| Norway (IFPI Norway)[136] | Gold | 30,000‡ |
| Poland (ZPAV)[137] | Gold | 10,000‡ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[138] | Gold | 20,000‡ |
| Sweden (GLF)[139] | Gold | 20,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[79] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[60] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000‡ |
|
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
Release history
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Version | Label | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Various | September 3, 2017[d] | Original | Big Machine | [140] | |
| United States | October 24, 2017 | Rhythmic radio | [16] | ||
| Various | December 1, 2017 |
|
BloodPop remix | [141] |
See also
Notes
References
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