"Me!" (stylized in all caps) is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift featuring Brendon Urie of the American band Panic! at the Disco. It was 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.
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 U.S. 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 number one in Ecuador, Hungary, and Nicaragua, as well as the top ten in many territories and received platinum or higher certifications in Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, 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. Swift performed "Me!" live on many televised events, including the 2019 Billboard Music Awards, The Voice, and Good Morning America.
Background and release 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. 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, was connected with the upcoming release. A crowd of several hundred gathered at the mural as the word "Me!" was added to it by Montague. While Montague was initially told that the mural was commissioned as promotion for ABC, ESPN and the 2019 NFL draft, 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. 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.
Composition
"Me!" is a bubblegum and synth-pop song, driven by a marching band drumline. It was written by Swift, Joel Little of Goodnight Nurse and Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco, and produced by Swift and Little. The song was initially developed as a slow, acoustic, piano ballad. The song is performed in the key of C major in common time with a tempo of 91 beats per minute. It follows an I–vi–IV–V chord progression known as the '50s progression (in C major, this is C–Am–F–G). The song's vocals span from F3 to E5.
In an interview with Robin Roberts, Swift described the song as about "embracing your individuality and really owning it". On August 21, 2019, it was reported that the lyric "Hey, kids, spelling is fun!" was removed from all digital and streaming versions of the song, including the album version.
Critical reception
"Me!" received mixed reviews from music critics. Forbess Hugh McIntyre wrote that it "isn't just a pop song, it's the momentary escape we all need". 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". 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".
In an article titled "'ME!' Is Everything Wrong With Pop", The Atlantics 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". 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". 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". NMEs 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". 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". Slates 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".
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'". The Spinoffs 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". Matthew McAuley from the same magazine opined that Urie "pulled out all of the stops to try and ruin this one". 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".
Awards and nominations +Awards and nominations for "Me!" Year Ceremony Category Result 2019 MTV Europe Music Awards Best Video MTV Video Music Awards Best Collaboration Best Visual Effects Best Cinematography MTV Video Music Awards Japan Best Female International Artist Video People's Choice Awards Music Video of 2019 Teen Choice Awards Choice Song: Female Artist Choice Pop Song Dance Magazine AwardsBest Music Video Guinness World Records Most Viewed Vevo Video in 24 Hours Most Views for a Solo Artist Music Video in 24 Hours on YouTube 2020iHeartRadio Music Awards Best Music Video Favorite Music Video Choreography Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Music Collaboration ASCAP awardsAward-winning Song Hito Music AwardsBest Western Song BMI Pop AwardsAward-winning Song Publisher of the Year (Sony/ATV)
Commercial performance 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. On Spotify, "Me!" opened at number one on the Global Spotify charts with 7.94 million streams dated April 26, 2019, beating her 2017 hit, "Look What You Made Me Do", which opened with 7.90 million streams dated August 25, 2017. "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". 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 Billboards Streaming Songs chart, with 50 million U.S. streams garnered within a week. In Canada, "Me!" had a very similar run on the charts as it did in the U.S. On the Canadian Hot 100, "Me!" opened at number two, while debuting atop the Canadian Digital Songs Sales chart.
In the United Kingdom, "Me!" debuted and peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Swift's 12th top ten hit song in Britain. It also sold 67,000 downloads within its first week, making it Britain's second biggest female sales debut of 2019, behind Ariana Grande's "7 Rings". "Me!" garnered the most video streams in the UK among Swift's collaborations, at 18.4 million streams.
In Iceland, "Me!" debuted at number four on the Íslenski listinn, becoming Brendon Urie's highest-charting single in the country. In Ireland, "Me!" debuted at number five on the Irish Singles Chart on May 4, 2019. 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. It was less successful in France, in which the song peaked at number 66, but was the highest-charting "Lover" song, until the resurgence of "Cruel Summer" (2023) which peaked at number 52.
In Australia, "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 Chart, tallying Swift's fourteenth and Urie's first top 10 in the country.
Music video The music video for "Me!" premiered on YouTube at midnight EDT (04:00 UTC) on April 26, 2019, in a live premiere format, prefaced by a Q&A chat in the live chat text with Swift. It was directed by Swift and Dave Meyers. On April 27, 2019, it was announced that the music video amassed 65.2 million views within its first day of release, breaking the 24-hour Vevo record previously held by Ariana Grande's "Thank U, Next". The video also broke Swift's personal record set in 2017 with the "Look What You Made Me Do" music video, which garnered 43.2 million views on August 28, 2017. The music video also became the most-viewed video in 24 hours by female artist, a record that was later surpassed by Blackpink's "How You Like That" video in June 2020.
Swift has stated that there are multiple Easter eggs in the video, and that there are three levels of them in the video, from most obvious to least obvious, which point to clues about the upcoming album, single, and tour. It was revealed that "You Need to Calm Down", a line Urie says to Swift at the beginning in French, would be the second single, and an "old-timey, 1940s-sounding instrumental version" of the song plays in the background in the same scene. The album title Lover was correctly guessed in advance. Other potential titles that were speculated of being on the album were "Kaleidoscope", "Home" and "Awesome". The portrait of The Chicks was later revealed to be a reference to a collaboration for the song "Soon You'll Get Better" on the album.
The music video received three nominations at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards, winning Best Visual Effects. A lyric video was released May 1, 2019.
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