"Gorgeous" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her sixth studio album, Reputation. It was released on October 20, 2017, as the second promotional single from the album. It was later released as a single in the UK on January 12, 2018. "Gorgeous" is a fizzy electropop song with lyrics describing a crush. Upon release, "Gorgeous" received generally positive reviews from music critics, who complimented the straightforward songwriting and the "delightful" production. The song reached number-one in Belgium, and the top-ten in Australia, Canada, Hungary and Malaysia. It also peaked at number 13 on the US BillboardHot 100 chart and at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart.
Release and background
After Swift held a secret listening party onOctober 13, 2017 where she played her sixth studio album Reputation for 100 fans from all around the world, she announced the release of a song titled "Gorgeous" through her Instagram account on October 19. It included a small preview of the track, featuring "a baby voice saying 'gorgeous' over an electro-pop soundbed", as described by Billboard. It was then released the following day as a promotional single. On the same day, a lyric video for the song was premiered. It was also revealed that the baby's voice featured on the song is from James Reynolds, daughter of actors Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. As of March 2020 the lyric video has over 109 million views on YouTube.
Composition
Swift co-wrote "Gorgeous" with its producers Max Martin and Shellback. It has been described as a "radio-friendly pop" song. Lyrically, the song depicts "the pursuit of a maddening love interest", whom Swift describes as "gorgeous". Hugh McIntyre of Forbes characterized the production of the song as "simultaneously a basic 808 drum and an attempt at something that pushes electro-pop into a more interesting territory than Top 40 is used to". Maeve McDermott of USA Today likened the chorus of the song to the sound ofKaty Perry. According to Elle, the man mentioned in the song is the British actor Joe Alwyn. The song is composed in the key of C major with a tempo of 92 beats per minute, with Swift's vocals spanning from C3 to F5. The baby voice featured in the song's intro, pronouncing "gorgeous", is a sample of that of James Reynolds, daughter of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds.
Critical reception
Maeve McDermott of USA Today called it "further proof of their queen's pop domination" for Taylor Swift fans, and "a promising omen that the old Taylor may not be dead just yet" for "listeners who have so far been skeptical of Swift's new direction." Glamour stated that it was evidence that Swift was "single-handedly saving pop music in 2017," calling it "fizzy" and "delightful," owing to its "slightly left of centre style." In a positive review for Variety, Chris William called the song a "more conventional Taylor Swift song" that, "provides some of the conventional pleasures that only a pop song about falling deeply in crush can." Jon Blistein of Rolling Stone thought the song is "the yang to the vindictive, angry yin of ‘Look What You Made Me Do,’ as Swift sings 'wistfully' about a man over gentle, radio-friendly pop." Clayton Purdom from The A.V. Club called it "her first good single in forever,” stating that the song "clears the low bar set by its two predecessors " and stands easily alongside the best work on 1989. Entertainment Weeklys Eric Renner Brown gave it a B+, citing that "she's back on top" with "Gorgeous." Richard S. He of Billboard said the song's verses are "Swift at her pettiest", realizing she was playing a character and has "never been wittier." Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic called it "on the surface the most 1989-like of the three Reputation songs so far" and stating that "the song is very catchy and refreshingly straightforward." In a mixed review, Frank Guan of Vulture stated that the song "isn't terrible," but it is "yet another song from Reputation that doesn't live up to its title."
Commercial performance
In the United States, the song debuted at number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100, number 16 on the Streaming Songs chart with 16.9 million U.S. streams, and at number one on the Digital Songs chart with first-week downloads of 68,000 copies. It also became her 14th song to top the Digital Songs chart and her 13th to open at the summit, tying her with Rihanna for the most number one entries on the chart with 14 each. In Australia, the song entered the ARIA Singles Chart at number 9. After impacting UK radio as a single, the song also peaked at number 15 in the country.
