Me!
"Me!" (stylized in all caps) is a song by Taylor Swift featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco, released on April 26, 2019, as the lead single from Swift's seventh studio album, Lover, by Republic Records. Written by Urie, Swift, and Joel Little, and produced by the latter two, "Me!" is an upbeat bubblegum pop and synth-pop track driven by a marching band drumline. It is about embracing one's individuality, self-affirmation, and self-love.
For other uses, see Me."Me!"
April 26, 2019
- Electric Lady (New York City)
- Golden Age West (Auckland)
3:13
- Taylor Swift
- Joel Little
- Brendon Urie
- Taylor Swift
- Joel Little
Music critics described the production as cheery or campy; they either found the track catchy and tongue-in-cheek or deemed it immature and cloying. On the US Billboard Hot 100, "Me!" debuted at number 100 and jumped to number two the next week, breaking the record for the biggest single-week jump in the chart's history. The single was certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. It reached the top ten and received platinum or higher certifications in Australia, Canada, Poland, and the United Kingdom.
Swift and Dave Meyers directed the music video for "Me!", which features bright and colorful aesthetics. Critics commented that it was a symbolic departure from the dark aesthetics of Swift's past album, Reputation (2017). The video claimed the Vevo record for the highest 24-hour views, amassing over 65.2 million views within its first day of release. In 2019, it won Best Visual Effects at the MTV Video Music Awards, Best Video at the MTV Europe Music Awards, and Best Female International Artist Video at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan.
Background and release[edit]
On April 13, 2019, a countdown to midnight on April 26 appeared on Taylor Swift's website, leading to speculation about the release of new music.[1] On April 25, various news outlets reported that a mural of a butterfly in The Gulch neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee, painted by street artist Kelsey Montague,[2] was connected with the upcoming release.[3] A crowd of several hundred gathered at the mural as the word "Me!" was added to it by Montague.[3][4] While Montague was initially told that the mural was commissioned as promotion for ABC, ESPN and the 2019 NFL Draft,[5] Swift appeared at the mural and revealed that it was in fact part of her countdown promotion and that she would be interviewed by Robin Roberts during the NFL Draft broadcast with further information.[6] At the interview she confirmed the release of a new song and music video at midnight, sharing the title as well as the feature from Urie.[7]
Critical reception[edit]
"Me!" received mostly negative reviews from music critics. Forbes's Hugh McIntyre wrote that it "isn't just a pop song, it's the momentary escape we all need".[16] Roisin O'Connor of The Independent wrote that "Swift once again proves her mastery of the infectious pop hook in one of the most drastic reinventions of her career to date".[17] Time's Raisa Bruner noted that Swift "veers away from her normally specific songwriting to instead offer up an anthem of self-love", and added that even though it "doesn't hit the emotional notes of her [Swift's] most memorable work, it makes a strong statement".[11]
In an article titled "'ME!' Is Everything Wrong With Pop", The Atlantic's Spencer Kornhaber wrote that the song "has almost none of the elements that once made [Swift] interesting, but it does have a dolphin screech for a chorus".[18] Rob Harvilla of The Ringer opined "'Me!' is a cloyingly goofy Disney-pop confection with an earworm chorus and a certain try-hard insidiousness to it".[19] Writing for Pitchfork, Anna Gaca stated that it "is a showcase for the worst and weakest aspects of Swift's work", and added "it is not hard to write a better song than this".[20] NME's Rhian Daly wrote that the lyrics of "Me!" "are just surface messaging about self-love and acceptance, the kind of hollow #positivity that is slapped on greeting cards and slogan t-shirts and sold as empowering".[21] Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Mikael Wood stated that the song features "her weakest lyrics ever" and that "nothing about this song advances our thinking about Swift".[22] Slate's Carl Wilson called it "fluffy and immaterial", adding that Swift and Urie "just traipse through a kiss-and-make-up number out of a teen musical".[23] Writing for The Daily Telegraph, Kate Solomon opined that "she's concocted what might be her most pop song to date," and went on to say that "the low point might be Swift shouting out, 'Spelling is fun, kids!' like a manic summer camp counsellor because she's noticed that 'you can't spell awesome without me'".[24] The Spinoff's Alice Webb-Liddall wrote "I was prepared to like it until Taylor yelled 'Spelling is fun' and from that point in the video I felt a little bit sick".[25] Matthew McAuley from the same magazine opined that Urie "pulled out all of the stops to try and ruin this one".[25] Writing for The Independent, Alexandra Pollard stated that the song is "so blandly uncontroversial that there is literally nothing to say about it", and that it "has proven something of a damp squib".[9]
Commercial performance[edit]
The song broke four Amazon Music records that includes most first-day streams, most first-week streams and most on-demand voice requests with Alexa of a single debut on the platform.[39] On Spotify, "Me!" opened at number one on the Global Spotify charts with 7.94 million streams dated April 26, 2019,[40] beating her 2017 hit, "Look What You Made Me Do", which opened with 7.90 million streams dated August 25, 2017.[40]
In the US, "Me!" debuted at number 100 on the Billboard Hot 100, and ascended 98 spots to its peak of number two in its second week, behind "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, becoming the biggest single-week jump in the Hot 100's history, beating the record previously set by Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You".[41] The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart, as Swift's record-extending sixteenth chart topper, with 193,000 sold, and at number two on Billboard's Streaming Songs chart, with 50 million US streams garnered within a week. In Canada, "Me!" had a very similar run on the charts as it did in the US. On the Canadian Hot 100, "Me!" opened at number two, while debuting atop the Canadian Digital Songs Sales chart.[42]
On the UK Singles Chart, "Me!" debuted and peaked at number three, making it Swift's ninth top five and twelfth top ten hit in the region. It also sold 67,000 downloads within its first week in the UK, making it the second biggest female sales debut of the year in the country, behind Ariana Grande's "7 Rings".[43] "Me!" garnered the most video streams in the UK among Swift's collaborations, at 18.4 million streams.[44] In Scotland, "Me!" debuted at number one, becoming Swift's fourth chart-topper and twelfth top ten hit in the country.[45] "Me!" opened at number four in Iceland, becoming Brendon Urie's highest-charting single in the country.[46] In Ireland, "Me!" debuted at number five on the Irish Singles Chart on May 4, 2019.[47] In the rest of Europe, "Me!" peaked at number one in Hungary, number three in Croatia and Israel, number four in Iceland, Greece, Latvia, and Slovakia, number five in the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Lithuania, number seven in Austria, number nine in Norway and Slovenia, and number ten in Poland.
"Me!" debuted and peaked at number two on the ARIA Singles Chart dated May 4, 2019, becoming Swift's seventeenth top ten hit in Australia. In New Zealand, "Me" debuted at number three on the New Zealand singles charts, tallying Swift's fourteenth and Urie's first top 10 in the country.[48]
Live performances, covers and usage in media[edit]
On May 1, 2019, Swift and Urie opened the 2019 Billboard Music Awards with a performance of "Me!".[67][68] On May 21, 2019, Swift and Urie performed the song at the finale of the sixteenth season of The Voice.[69] Swift and Urie also performed the song on June 1, 2019, at the 2019 Wango Tango.[70] She performed a solo version of the song at the finale of the fourteen season of Germany's Next Topmodel on May 23,[71] on The Graham Norton Show in the United Kingdom,[72][73] and at the eighth season of the French version of The Voice along with "Shake It Off" on May 25, 2019.[74][75] On July 10, 2019, Swift performed the song at her headlining Amazon Prime Day concert along with "You Need to Calm Down" and a number of songs from her previous albums.[76]
She performed the song along with "You Need to Calm Down" and "Shake It Off" at a Good Morning America concert in Central Park on August 22.[77] On September 9, Swift performed the song at the City of Lover one-off concert at L'Olympia in Paris, France.[78] She released this live version on digital music platforms on May 17, 2020. On October 19, she performed the song at the We Can Survive charity concert in Los Angeles.[79] She performed the song on the Sukkiri Morning Show in Tokyo, Japan on November 7,[80] and the Alibaba Singles' Day Gala in Shanghai, China on November 10.[81] On December 8, Swift performed the song at Capital FM's Jingle Bell Ball 2019 in London.[82] On December 13, she performed the song at iHeartRadio Z100's Jingle Ball in New York City.[83]
Hours after the song's release, ABC and ESPN used the song for their intro for night 2 of the 2019 NFL Draft, a day after Swift broke the news of the song's release, in an interview with ABC's Robin Roberts. The song was also used in a commercial Swift filmed in partnership with Capital One in 2019.[84] The song was excluded from the set list for The Eras Tour, but was performed as a surprise song on the November 20, 2023 show in Rio de Janeiro.[85]
On June 28, 2021, a cover of "Me!" by Taiwanese singer Tzuyu, a member of South Korean girl group Twice, featuring Bang Chan of Stray Kids, was released. A 10-second teaser of the cover was posted to YouTube on June 22, 2021, which accumulated 1.7 million views in a day.[86]
Credits adapted from liner notes of "Me!" and Tidal[87][88]