Taylor Swift's new song "You Need To Calm Down" has already hit 20 million views and it's only been up for a day.
The video is studded with stars — Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Ellen DeGeneres and Swift's (former?) foe Katy Perry, among many more. It was executive produced by Swift and Todrick Hall, the Dallas-area dancer, singer, actor and YouTuber. Hall grew up in Arlington and attended Bowie High School.
Swift's video puts Hall's name front and center in the first 10 seconds:
So @todrick helped Taylor in production of her new visual and I’m screaming. What can’t this man do!!! pic.twitter.com/mL2od3beVW
— Daniel Austin (@DLAJr_) June 17, 2019
Hall has fangirled over Swift: In 2015, Hall debuted a video called "4 Taylor," a 5-minute mashup of some of Swift's best songs. But Hall and Swift are friends, too. Hall told the Elvis Duran Show that Swift gave him an $8,000 Alexander McQueen jacket for his birthday this year. "I just need a husband that treats me the way Taylor treats me," he said on the radio show.
Hall also appeared in Swift's video for "Look What You Made Me Do."
His resume is long; he's choreographed for Beyonce and served as a judge on RuPaul's Drag Race. His career initially took off after he created an avid fanbase on YouTube, where his followers are cutely called Toddlerz. His videos — well-produced covers of other people's songs — have seen 645 million views on YouTube.
Swift's latest song, "You Need To Calm Down" dropped right in the middle of June, LGBT Pride Month, and many of the celebrities in the video, Hall included, celebrate their sexuality.
The first time we see Hall, he's strutting in a trailer park with Swift, wearing platform shoes and rainbow-colored eyeshadow.
