People all around the world were eagerly waiting for midnight on Thursday, April 26, as pop singer-songwriter Taylor Swift had been consistently posting ‘4.26’ on her social media for a couple weeks, hinting that she was going to drop an album or a single on that day. She posted once everyday, suggesting a colorful, pastel theme of butterflies for her new album. Swift fans were waiting up till the last hour, minute, and second, continuously reloading Swift’s youtube countdown and social media sites. Prior to the releasing time, fans found out that Swift’s new single ME! would also feature Brendon Urie from Panic! at the Disco.

The theme of Swift’s last album, Reputation, was snakes, depicting the anger and sorrow that she was feeling at that time. However, in the beginning of the music video of ME!, there is a white snake that bursts into little butterflies, showing that Swift has started a new, more cheerful era, and is more positive now. Also, even though Swift’s songs are usually focused on her love life, in this single Swift is emphasizing the idea of individualism and empowerment, saying that everyone is unique in their own ways and to just be yourself.

The music in ME! was very upbeat and loud, and at many points it felt like a musical, especially when Urie and Swift sang together. Watching the music video also made the single feel more like a musical theatre piece, because along with the singing there were many choreographed dance moves. I felt that although this was very different from Reputation, it was not like Swift’s older upbeat albums either, which is not what I expected. The only callback to Reputation was the first line of the single because of the similar voice effect she used in a previous single Delicate. Otherwise, the song had a very cheerful and catchy feel, but did not have the same detailed lyrics that her other songs, especially before Reputation, had. Something very admirable about Swift is her ability to have extremely detailed lyrics, but ME! was very general compared to her old singles that tended to tell a comprehensive story throughout the song.

Swift is known for giving small, almost undetectable hints to her fans, and gave many of them in the new music video and single. Before the music video released, Swift posted everyday emphasizing ‘4.26’ and also teased that she would reveal a secret that she had been keeping for months, which turned out to be her new kitten that was shown in the video. In the single, there is a line that says “You can’t spell awesome without me!” and many of Swift’s new merchandise t-shirts spell ‘Awesome’ implying that it could be a future single or even the name of her new album. Throughout her social media, music video, and single, Swift did a great job of slowly connecting little clues together and also kept many fans on their feet with the new hints that she dropped in the music video and single.

The single broke many records including highest female and solo 24 hour debut for any music video with 65.2 million views, the most first day streams on Amazon, and one for the most Alexa voice requests on Amazon Music. Filled with pastels, rainbows, french-dialogue, and the revealing of Swift’s new cat, the music video of ME! was a surprising, fun bop that had many fans hyped.