"You Need To Calm Down" finds Taylor Swift calling out haters and anti-gay protesters. Over the course of three verses she slyly pokes fun at the detractors. During the first verse, Swift puts social media haters in their place. Say it in the street, that's a knock-out But you say it in a Tweet, that's a cop-out And I'm just like, "Hey, are you okay?" Verse two finds her uplifting the LGBTQ community and gay rights organization GLAAD. Why are you mad when you could be GLAAD? (You could be GLAAD) Sunshine on the street at the parade. Swift takes on successful women who are competing with each other in the third verse. She points out nobody needs to be on top as "we all got crowns."

Speaking on Beats 1, Swift explained the song came from her observations of people who devote a great deal of time basking in negativity. It made her feel like telling them, "You need to just calm down, like you're stressing yourself out. This seems like it's more about you than what you're going off about. Like, just calm down."

Swift had dropped a clue about the song's content during the video of her previous single "Me!." In the clip, the singer has an argument with Brendon Urie in French. "You need to calm down!" Urie says. To which Swift yells, "I AM CALM!"