After teasing her fans with cryptic posts on social media for almost two weeks, Taylor Swift finally dropped her music video on Friday. The song premiered on streaming services and as a YouTube video at 9.30 a.m. on Friday. She announced her new single in an interview with Robin Roberts in her former hometown of Nashville, a few hours before the drop. The single titled Me!, is a collaboration with Panic! At the Disco’s Brendon Urie.
The video starts with a CGI snake hissing at the viewer that bursts into pastel butterflies, marking the departure of dark Taylor of the "Reputation” era. “‘Me!’ is a song about embracing your individuality and really celebrating it and owning it”, Swift said about her new pop song. The video co-directed by Swift follows the pastel, floral theme, Swift incorporated in her social media, her wardrobe and even her hair, prior to the release of the song.
Swift made an appearance at a presentation of a new mural that depicts a massive pastel butterfly whose wings bear images of flowers, hearts, cats, stars and the word ‘ME!’, in her hometown where she took selfies with fans and posed for pictures. Earlier that evening fans observed that a new music video titled ‘ME!’ was registered to YouTube, which featured Urie. Images of Taylor with the words ‘ME!’ were also placed on billboards.
The singer dropped several other clues weeks ahead of the drop. She revamped her social media with pastel-hued images, captioning them 4.26 and started a custom countdown clock while staying tight-lipped about what was about to come. Sensing something big would be releasing on the April 26, her fans tried to decode her every move and prophesied the announcement of an album/song release. Thanking her fans who showed up at the mural by following the trail of clues, Swift said “I’ve never been so proud of your FBI level detective skills”, while also confirming the speculations of the music release.
Watch the video here: