...Ready for It?


"...Ready for It?" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her sixth studio album, Reputation. The song was released as a promotional single on September 3, 2017, and impacted radio on October 24, as the album's second official single. "...Ready for It?" is an electropop, industrial pop, dubstep, tropical house and EDM song with elements of dancehall and trap. It sees Swift rapping over deep synthesizers, heavy bass drops and programmed drums. Lyrically, the song revolves around a subject whom Swift names a "killer", using Hollywood imageries such as a bank heist, going undercover, ransom and jail.
The accompanying music video, directed by Joseph Kahn, features a dark, futuristic aesthetic and pays homage references to sci-fi franchises such as Tron and Ghost in the Shell. Upon release, "...Ready for It?" received positive reviews from music critics, who praised the production as "anthemic" and "colossal", and cited the track as an improvement over Swift's previous single, "Look What You Made Me Do".
Commercially, "...Ready for It?" reached the top-ten in Australia, Canada, Greece, Hungary, Malaysia, New Zealand, Scotland and the United Kingdom. In the United States, the song debuted at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, extending Swift's record as the female artist with the most Hot 100 top-ten debuts, with fourteen. It also debuted at number-one on the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart, selling 135,000 song downloads. A BloodPop remix of the song was released on December 10, 2017. "...Ready for It?" has been certified 2× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for earning over 2 million units in the US. The song is certified double platinum in Australia and Canada, as well.

Promotion and release

Swift had first teased a portion of the single on September 2, 2017, during ESPN's Saturday Night Football broadcast of the Florida State vs. Alabama game, and it has since been used in the introduction to every Saturday Night Football game on ABC. The same day, she announced it would be included on her upcoming album, Reputation, and confirmed its release as a promotional single. It was made available for digital download as part of the pre-order of the album on September 3, 2017. It impacted rhythmic contemporary radio on October 24, 2017.

Writing and composition

"...Ready for It?" is a "pop-oriented", "electronic-inspired" electropop, industrial pop, tropical house, dubstep and EDM song with influences of dancehall and trap music. The song features deep synths, a bass drop, drum machines and rapping. The atmosphere of the song drew comparisons to Kanye West and Rihanna. The song is performed in the key of E minor with a tempo of 80 beats per minute, with Swift's vocals spanning from G3 to D5.
The song lyrically revolves around Swift's fantasies 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". She also addresses the perception of her own romantic history by comparing herself to Elizabeth Taylor and her lover to Richard Burton. The subject of the song was rumored to be Tom Hiddleston, Joe Alwyn, or Harry Styles. Several hints that have been dropped by Taylor Swift herself seem to identify Joe Alwyn as the song's subject, including her "liking" a Tumblr user's fan theory which stated the song is about the actor, the song line " younger than my exes", and the opening shot in her music video which shows her in front of a wall on which two dates have been spray painted: "89" and "91", Swift and Alwyn's birth years respectively.

Critical reception

"...Ready for It?" received positive reviews from music critics, calling it an improvement from Swift's previous single, "Look What You Made Me Do". Tom Breihan of Stereogum said the songwriters "made something ungainly and goofy, something that was probably a terrible idea, and they still made it sound like towering, colossal pop music". Patrick Ryan of USA Today expressed some scepticism concerning Swift's rapping, but noted the contrast between the "anthemic chorus" and "dark", intense verses made for a "promising second glance on her reputation era". Richard He wrote for Billboard that "Swift has never sung more expressively, nor sounded more in tune with the way modern pop production uses the voice as an instrument" and that the song's chorus has "one of the prettiest melodies of her career".
However, Craig Jenkins of Vulture gave it a lukewarm review, stating that the song "doesn't reinvent pop or Taylor, but it does get her name out on a product built to keep pace with current trends". Mike Wass for Idolator dismissed the song as "not good" and called it "equally underwhelming" as "Look What You Made Me Do". He concluded by saying "If you can get past the cringeworthy lyrics and jarring production, a cute chorus awaits. But that's a lot of work for a minor payoff".

Commercial performance

In the United States, the song debuted and peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Swift's 22nd top 10 song and her 14th top 10 debut on the chart, the most among female artists and second most overall behind rapper Drake. It also became her 13th number one song on the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart with opening sales of 135,000 copies, entered the Billboard Streaming Songs chart with 19 million streams in its first week of availability, and opened at 35 on the Billboard Pop Songs chart with a radio audience of 13 million. It has since sold 590,000 pure copies in the US.
In Australia, "...Ready for It?" entered at number 3 on the ARIA Singles Chart, becoming her 12th top five entry in the nation.
In Canada it peaked at number seven while topped the digital chart dethroning another single from Reputation "Look What You Made Me Do". In the UK it also peaked at number seven becoming the second single from reputation to reach the top ten in both countries. In New Zealand it peaked at number 9 and in Scotland at number 3.

Music video

Production and release

The video was shot on August 21, 2017. An audio for the song was released on September 3, 2017 that has 270 million views to date. On October 23, 2017, Swift released a teaser of the music video for the song. The full video premiered on October 26. It was directed by Joseph Kahn. The video features homage references to sci-fi and anime, such as Tron and Ghost in the Shell. It received 20.4 million online views in its first day of release. As of January 2020, the video has over 260 million views on YouTube.

Synopsis

The video features two versions of Swift. One version is a cyborg in a white bodysuit. She is shown behind the walls of a cell being guarded by several men in suits. The other version of Swift is seen wearing a large black cloak. The video starts with the cloaked Swift walking through an alley, making her way past several guards and typing in a code to access the room where the cyborg Swift is being held. Graffiti seen on the walls are lyrics from the album reputation. 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 is able to break 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 as cyborg Swift moves up an escalator.

Bloodpop Remix

A remix for the song featuring American musician BloodPop was released on December 10, 2017. The remix received positive reviews from critics. On December 14, a lyric video for the remix was uploaded to Swift's Vevo channel on YouTube, which included clips from the original music video, released about a month and half before. As of January 2020, the lyric video for the remix has gained over nine million views on YouTube.

Live performances

Swift performed "...Ready for It?" for the first time during an episode of the 43rd season of Saturday Night Live on November 11, 2017, alongside an acoustic version of "Call It What You Want". Swift also performed "...Ready for It?" as part of the KIIS-FM's Jingle Ball 2017 on December 1, 2017 in Inglewood, California. Two days later, Swift returned onstage to perform the song again as part of 99.7 Now!'s Poptopia in San Jose, California with the same setlist. The following week, Swift performed the song again on three other occasions, such as the B96 Chicago and Pepsi Jingle Bash 2017 in Chicago, the Z100 Jingle Ball 2017 in New York City and Jingle Bell Ball 2017 in London.
The song was the first song performed every night at Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour.
On May 27, 2018, Swift opened her set as part of BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend in Singleton Park in Swansea, Wales with the song.

Accolades

Usage in media

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from liner notes of Reputation.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history