Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift have teamed up again for a remix of “The Joker and the Queen” with a video continuation of the pair’s first song collaboration and video for Swift’s 2012 Red single “Everything Has Changed.”
Videos by American Songwriter
The fourth single off Sheerans’ fourth album =, “The Joker and The Queen” marks the fourth collaboration between the two friends.
Sheeran has joined Swift on three of her songs throughout the years, including “Everything Has Changed,” “End Game” from Reputation in 2017, and most recently “Run” in 2021, one of Swift’s vault tracks off Red (Taylor’s Version). The pair’s remix of “The Joker and The Queen” is the first time Swift has joined Sheeran on one of his songs.
When Sheeran wrote the original version of “The Joker and the Queen,” he immediately thought of Taylor for the guest vocals.
Written by Sheeran, Swift, Johnny McDaid, Fred Gibson, and Sam Roman and produced by Sheeran, FRED, Johnny McDaid, and ROMANS, the tender ballad is full of piano and string arrangements, provided by Sheeran’s brother Matthew, with Swift singing And I know you think that what makes a king is gold, a palace, and diamond rings before they both sing When I fold, you see the best in me, the Joker and the Queen.
The accompanying video, directed by Emil Nava, continues the storyline from Swift’s 2012 “Everything Has Changed” video, now 10 years later, and features the original actors in a coming-of-age story following the now 18-year-old Ava and Jack, who are about to go off to college.
Sheeran first teased the song with a 30-second snippet showing an animated playing card with Swift as the queen and Ed, a jester-hat-topped joker on Instagram saying. “‘The Joker and the Queen’ featuring my good friend @TaylorSwift is out this Friday,” posted Sheeran with the video teaser, following his performance of the song at the 2022 Brit Awards on Feb. 8.
The original version of ‘The Joker And The Queen’ debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 upon its release in October 2021 and marked the fourth consecutive chart-topping album for Sheeran, with lead singles “Shivers,” and “Bad Habits,” the latter track currently nominated for a Grammy for Song of the Year.
Photo: Ed Sheeran (Photo: Dan Martensen); Taylor Swift (Photo: Beth Garrabrant)
