"The Joker and the Queen" is a song by English singer-songwriter

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently re ...

, taken from his fifth studio album, '' ='', that was released on 29 October 2021 by

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and

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. Sheeran wrote and produced the song with

Johnny McDaid John McDaid (born 24 July 1976) is a singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer from Northern Ireland. He is a member of the band Snow Patrol and has written songs with other artists including Ed Sheeran, P!nk, and Robbie Williams. Early ...

Fred Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rod ...

, and

Sam Roman Samuel Roman (born 1975) is a Puerto Rican-American former professional wrestler. He is best known for his stint in World Championship Wrestling in 2001 under the ring name Kid Romeo, where he was one half of the first ever Cruiserweight Tag Te ...

. A

duet A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a sol ...

version of the song, featuring American singer-songwriter

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bo ...

, was released on 11 February 2022 as the album's fourth single. The single is a slow-paced folk ballad driven by a cinematic piano,

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tempo, and 1950s-inspired strings. It marks the fourth collaboration between Sheeran and Swift, following " Everything Has Changed" (2012), " End Game" (2017), and "

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" (2021). An accompanying music video, itself a sequel to the video of "Everything Has Changed" and featuring the same actors, was released on the same day as the song. The single was praised by critics for its pleasant sound. Commericially, it charted at number two in Japan and the UK; number three in Singapore; number five in Ireland, Lithuania and Malaysia; number 11 in Australia, Belgium, and Vietnam; number 12 in Canada; number 13 in India; number 15 in the Philippines; and number 19 in Hong Kong and Switzerland.

Development and release

Background

"The Joker and the Queen" is a song written and produced by English singer-songwriter

, alongside his collaborators

and Sam

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. After writing " Bad Habits", Sheeran thought that he finished writing for the day before Fred played him a piano instrumental created by Romans, which Fred found "very beautiful" but was never able to expand it into a song. Sheeran then spent about 20 minutes writing down various metaphors, including coming up with the song's title and the line "I fold, you saw my hand, you let me win, you put the cards on the table." Sheeran thought that the song was too easy to write and disliked it. However, Sheeran's brother Matthew created a string composition for the song, which Sheeran admired for sounding like an "old classic that had been around since the '50s". The song was recorded at Fieldwork Studio in London and Suffolk, Stamford Street in London, Promised Land Music Studios in London,

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music ...

in London and Pixel in London. The mixing was handled by

Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sheeran ...

at the Mixsuite while it was mastered by Stuart Hawkes at

Metropolis Studios Metropolis Studios is a music production and entertainment industry company established in 1989 by Gary Langan, Carey Taylor and Karin Clayton.Donald Brackett It is located in the Powerhouse, a Grade II listed building, at 70 Chiswick High ...

in London. "The Joker and the Queen" was released on 29 October 2021 as the sixth track on Sheeran's fifth studio album '' =''.

Duet version

Shortly after ''='' was released, Sheeran confirmed that a new recording of the song featuring an American singer had been recorded and was set to be released in January 2022; however, he cautioned that it was not official as it had not been cleared for release. American singer-songwriter

, a frequent collaborator of Sheeran, began hinting that she was the featured artist on the song, using several easter eggs such as in Swift's

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

for "

I Bet You Think About Me "I Bet You Think About Me" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift featuring American singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton, from Swift's second re-recorded album, ''Red (Taylor's Version)'' (2021). Swift wrote the song with Lori McKen ...

" where she carves the equals sign on a wedding cake; the video's director

Blake Lively Blake Ellender Lively ( Brown; born August 25, 1987) is an American actress. Born in Los Angeles, Lively is the daughter of actor Ernie Lively, and made her professional debut in his directorial project ''Sandman'' (1998). She starred as Brid ...

promoted the video with the joker emoji on social media. Swift also released playing cards in promotion of her 2021 re-recorded album ''

Red (Taylor's Version) ''Red (Taylor's Version)'' is the second re-recorded album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Released via Republic Records on November 12, 2021, as a part of Swift's countermeasure against the purchase of the masters of her back cata ...

''. Additionally, in Sheeran's " Overpass Graffiti" music video, Swift's name can be seen in a newspaper column as well as on a leather jacket that Sheeran wears which also has joker and queen print. In December 2021, Sheeran confirmed that the duet "The Joker and the Queen" would be released as the fourth single from ''='' in 2022. On 1 February 2022, Sheeran revealed on social media that he was signing some CDs for a new project, which featured an artwork with a joker and a queen that resembled Swift. Four days later, the song credits in the lyric video for "The Joker and the Queen" showed "(feat. Taylor Swift)" in the title. Sheeran officially revealed that the remix of "The Joker and the Queen" would feature Swift at the

42nd Brit Awards Brit Awards 2022, presented by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), was held on 8 February 2022 to recognize the best in British and international music. The ceremony took place at The O2 Arena in London, and was hosted by British comedian ...

on 8 February 2022 in a red carpet interview with '' LADbible''. Sheeran announced the single via social media the following day, set for release on 11 February 2022. The single marked the fourth collaboration between Sheeran and Swift, after " Everything Has Changed" (2013), " End Game" (2017) and "

" (2021).

Music and lyrics

"The Joker and the Queen" is a folk

. It has been described as a "cinematic"

piano ballad A ballade (from French '' ballade'', , and German ''Ballade'', , both being words for "ballad"), in classical music since the late 18th century, refers to a setting of a literary ballad, a narrative poem, in the musical tradition of the , or to a o ...

. In the duet remix, Swift takes over the second verse with a female perspective, replacing Sheeran's original lyrics. The lyrics explain love using a

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ga ...

analogy.

Critical reception

The track received positive reviews. Melissa Ruggieri of ''

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'' said the duet is a tender, heartfelt ballad, accentuated by "a sumptuous piano melody with a cinematic swoosh of strings". ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' writer Hannah Dailey wrote that the song is a delicate piano ballad about rekindling lost love. Jason Brow of ''

Hollywood Life Hollywood Life is an American digital media brand launched in 2009 by magazine editor Bonnie Fuller. The site covers celebrity, fashion, beauty, women issues, and entertainment news. It also airs award shows and other pop culture events. History ...

'' described it as "another great addition to the Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift lore". Michael Major of ''

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'' dubbed the track a beautifully reimagined version of the original album track. Robin Murray of ''Clash'' called it an "undiverting ear-worm", claiming it was "pleasant but definitely not distracting, sitting more in Sheeran's MOR vein than Taylor's recent reclamation work." He said Swift and Sheeran are " relishing classicism, utilising form to craft a gentle delight". ''

Gulf News ''Gulf News'' is a daily English language newspaper published from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was first launched in 1978, and is currently distributed throughout the UAE and also in other Persian Gulf Countries. Its online edition was launc ...

'' labelled it a "soothing romantic ballad" and a "Valentine’s Day gift to (their) fans".

Commercial performance

Upon the release of ''='', the album version of "The Joker and the Queen" debuted at number 66, 78, and 99 on Australia's ARIA Singles,

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record ...

, and the ''Billboard'' Global 200 charts, respectively. Following the release of the duet version, "The Joker and the Queen" reached a new peak of number 11 in Australia, and debuted at numbers two and five on the

UK Singles The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and Irish Singles charts, respectively. It debuted at number 15 on ''Billboard'' Philippine Songs chart and reached number 10 on the ''Billboard'' Global 200.

Music video

The music video of "The Joker and the Queen" continued the storyline from the video for Swift's 2013 single featuring Sheeran, " Everything Has Changed"; the child actors who resembled Swift and Sheeran in the latter video—Ava Ames and Jack Lewis, respectively—play the grown-up versions of themselves in the former. The video shows a text message between the two characters, which is a real text-exchange between Sheeran and Swift that was shared to Swift's

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account in 2015. A screenshot of the "Everything Has Changed" music video also appears as a framed photograph in "The Joker and the Queen" video.

Live performances

Sheeran performed "The Joker and the Queen" at the 42nd Brit Awards on 8 February 2022, and in Paris,

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foot ...

on 30 July 2022.

Personnel

Credits adapted from

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and the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

of ''=''. *

vocals, songwriting, production, backing vocals *

vocals, songwriting (remix only) *

songwriting, production, engineering, string arrangement, bass, keys *

songwriting, production, engineering *

songwriting, production, guitar, piano *

mixing * Matt Wolach mix assisting * Kieran Beardmorre mix assisting * Charlie Holmes mix assisting * Graham Archer engineering, vocal production * Matt Glasbey engineering * Neil Dawes assistant engineering * Will Reynolds assistant engineering * Marta Di Nozzi assistant engineering * Matthew Sheeran string arrangement, programming * Joe Rubel string recording, string programming * Marco Parisi additional strings * Peter Gregson conductor * Tom Kelly copy * Ashok Klouda cello * Victoria Harrild cello * Tim Lowe cello * Leon Bosch double bass * Hilary Skewes fixed * Stuart Hawkes mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joker and the Queen, The 2020s ballads 2022 singles 2021 songs American folk songs English folk songs Ed Sheeran songs Taylor Swift songs Folk ballads Male–female vocal duets Song recordings produced by Ed Sheeran Song recordings produced by Fred Again Songs written by Ed Sheeran Songs written by Taylor Swift Songs written by Johnny McDaid Songs written by Fred Again Songs written by Romans (musician) Torch songs