The Joker and the Queen

Background "The Joker and the Queen" is a song written and produced by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, alongside his collaborators Johnny McDaid, Fred and Sam Romans. The song was recorded at Fieldwork Studio in London and Suffolk, Stamford Street in London, Promised Land Music Studios in London, Abbey Road Studios in London and Pixel in London. The mixing was handled by Mark "Spike" Stent at the Mixsuite while it was mastered by Stuart Hawkes at Metropolis Studios in London. 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 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 "Run" (2021). == Music and lyrics ==

"The Joker and the Queen" is a folk waltz. It has been described as a "cinematic" piano ballad. == Critical reception ==

The track received positive reviews. Melissa Ruggieri of USA Today said the duet is a tender, heartfelt ballad, accentuated by "a sumptuous piano melody with a cinematic swoosh of strings". Jason Brow of Hollywood Life described it as "another great addition to the Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift lore". Michael Major of BroadwayWorld 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 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, 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 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 Instagram 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 on 30 July 2022. == Personnel ==

Credits adapted from Spotify and the liner notes of =. • Ed Sheeran vocals, songwriting, production, backing vocals • Taylor Swift vocals, songwriting (remix only) • Fred songwriting, production, engineering, string arrangement, bass, keys • Johnny McDaid songwriting, production, engineering • Romans songwriting, production, guitar, piano • Mark "Spike" Stent 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 ==