The Joker and the Queen

"The Joker and the Queen"
Cover artwork for "The Joker and the Queen"
Single by Ed Sheeran featuring Taylor Swift
from the album = (Tour Edition)
Released11 February 2022 (2022-02-11)
Studio
  • Fieldwork (London and Suffolk)
  • Stamford Street (London)
  • Promised Land (London)
  • Abbey Road (London)
  • Pixel (London)
GenreFolk
Length
  • 3:05 (original and remix version)
  • 2:37 (remix radio edit)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Ed Sheeran
  • Fred
  • Johnny McDaid
  • Romans
Ed Sheeran singles chronology
"Peru"
(2021)
"The Joker and the Queen"
(2022)
"Bad Habits"
(2022)
Taylor Swift singles chronology
"Message in a Bottle"
(2021)
"The Joker and the Queen"
(2022)
"Anti-Hero"
(2022)
Music video
"The Joker and the Queen" on YouTube

"The Joker and the Queen" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, taken from his fifth studio album, =, that was released on 29 October 2021 by Asylum and Atlantic Records. Sheeran wrote and produced the song with Johnny McDaid, Fred, and Sam Roman. A duet version of the song, featuring American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, 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, waltz tempo, and 1950s-inspired strings. It marks the fourth collaboration between Sheeran and Swift, following "Everything Has Changed" (2012), "End Game" (2017), and "Run" (2021). An accompanying music video, a sequel to the video of "Everything Has Changed" with the same actors, was released on the same day as the song. The single was praised by critics for its pleasant sound. Commercially, 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.