Taylor Swift's "ME!"

About

Taylor Swift's "ME!" is a pop song featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco off of Swift's upcoming seventh studio album released under Republic Records.

Origin

On April 26, 2019, Taylor Swift released the official video for "ME!" featuring Brendon Urie of the band Panic! At The Disco on YouTube (shown below). The video gained over 27.7 million views and 1.7 million likes in 14 hours.

Spread

On April 26th, 2019, various notable music critics wrote negative reviews of the song and music video. The Atlantic ^[3] published that the song was "a tongue twister of clichés--c’mon, Taylor, 'Livin’ in winter, I am your summer'?--tumbles down before Swift ricochets up, up, up into a dolphin screech: 'Me-ee-ee!' This sound alone may ruin summer 2019." Pitchfork's^[1] article said,"'ME!' is two steps away from a corporate jingle, innocuous feel-good music in an airtight clamshell package." Slate ^[2] was a little nicer and wrote, "It’s not that it’s a bad song, quite. Rather, it is a song so fluffy and immaterial that such a heavy label would just fall straight through it and clatter to the ground. Which is, I suspect, its point. "

Despite the critics response, fans expressed their love for the single on Twitter. Twitter user @ChelsieHadden^[4] referred to the music video saying, "I feel like the snake exploding into the butterflies signifies her finally reaching this place of ultimate happiness. This is the new era. Beautiful and even more filled with self love. #TaylorSwiftTONIGHT @taylorswift13 #MeOutNow" (shown below, left). The tweet gained 500 retweets and 3,000 likes in a day. Other Twitter users posted relatable stills from the video. Twitter user @alItootay^[5] tweeted a still of Swift yelling "I'm calm" saying "A MOOD #TaylorSwiftTONIGHT" (shown below, right). The tweet accumulated over 1000 retweets and 2,500 likes in a day.

#AnotherLikeMe Challenge

#AnotherLikeMe or the Another Like Me Dance Challenge refers to the fan initiated challenge of recreating the dance performed by Taylor Swift and Brendon Urie in the ME! official music video. On April 26th, 2019, TikTok fan account @Taylornation posted a clip of the music video calling on fans to recreate the dance (shown below). The video gained over 12,800 likes and 580 shares in a week.

The sound clip of "ME!" by Taylor Swift has been used in over 39,100 in two weeks. On April 27th, 2019, TikTok users began to share their dance recreation via the hashtag #AnotherLikeMe. TikTok user @thebentist uploaded a dance with his wife that gained over 37,400 likes and 398 shares in five days (shown below, left). That same day, TikToker @hoddygaming uploaded a similar recreation that gained over 4,600 likes in five days (shown below, center). On April 28th, @wewearcute uploaded a video involving breakfast (shown below, right). The video gained over 11,200 likes in four days.

Streaming Scams

Scams began popping up on Twitter shortly after the songs release encouraging people to stream "ME!" so it reaches the top of the Billboard charts. On April 26th, 2019 Twitter user @BhadDhad posted a screenshot of a fake ad for a free Starbucks drink for streaming "ME!" (shown below, left). The tweet gained over 19,300 retweets and 92,300 likes in two weeks. The scam is similar to shallowbucks which was also a fake music streaming promotion. On April 28th, 2019, Twitter user @IsItChillTaylor tweeted a fake Netflix promotion to get people to stream the song (shown below, right). the tweet gained over 500 likes and 200 retweets in two weeks.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References