Taylor Swift debuts eye-popping music video for new single ME! — and the critics hate it

Taylor Swift yesterday delivered fans her first new music since 2017’s reputation album, in the form of a brand new single.

Titled ME!, the song a duet with Panic! At the Disco frontman Brendon Urie and comes with a big-budget, hyper-colourful music video:
 

Pastels, rainbows and butterflies and a song that sees Swift cheer “Spelling is fun!” — for some, the whole affair feels a bit... juvenile. Is there a new Trolls movie coming out that this is meant to be soundtracking?

Reviews have been almost uniformally savage. Rolling Stone simply asked “What the hell is going on here?”, while Pitchfork declared the song was “for literal children”.

“The song is a showcase for the worst and weakest aspects of Swift’s work,” said Pitchfork, “there will be better songs on the eventual album, because it is not hard to write a better song than this.”

“Ugh Taylor What The Hell Are You Doing?” Stereogum titled its review, saying the song “comes across as a bad faith misstep — what people who turn their nose up at Taylor Swift pretend a Taylor Swift song sounds like”.

Esquire called the video a “pastel nightmare” that’s “woefully out of touch with the current landscape”. The Telegraph said that “with no insipid animated film attached to ME!, it’s not clear what Swift’s (point) is”.

The Atlantic titled its savage review “Taylor Swift’s ‘ME!’ Is Everything Wrong With Pop”, calling the song’s niggling “me-he-he, hoo-hoo-hoo” chorus a “dolphin’s screech”.

And the critical savaging doesn’t seem to have had an effect — the song is number one on iTunes and fans have flooded social media with praise:
 

I THINK THE SECRET THERE IS SHE BOUGHT A NEW CAT!?#TaylorSwiftTONIGHT @taylorswift13 @taylornation13 pic.twitter.com/nkJ9uOAqY6

— angelo (@tsronquillo) April 26, 2019

The best part of Taylor Swift’s new music video #Me pic.twitter.com/PGcyN0ok4o

— Evan Noorani (@KREM2Evan) April 26, 2019

THIS IS SO ON BRAND @taylorswift13 #TaylorSwiftTonight @taylornation13 pic.twitter.com/RnIvDA6PyH

— Tricia Nicole (@taylorsvvitt) April 26, 2019

This era is gonna be in screaming color miss Taylor Swift you’ve done it again ??? #TaylorSwiftTONIGHT pic.twitter.com/nRWY2o8icd

— Bianca ❤️ (@BiancaNunezz) April 26, 2019

Taylor Swift in a suit radiates so much energy.#TaylorSwiftTONIGHT#MeOutNow pic.twitter.com/PWal25REDm

— ? (@StarDustLove6) April 26, 2019

It marks a tight turnaround for the star, who released the harder-edged reputationalbum less than 18 months ago. That album was met with the most mixed reviews of Swift’s career — but still sold 4.5 million copies worldwide.
 

Swift has always been fond of teasing fans with clues to her new projects, and this time around the big hint came in the form of a giant mural that sprung up on a city wall in Nashville.
 

The mural shows a pair of wings, along with the title of Swift’s new single, ME!.

After a quick call-out on Instagram, Swift yesterday headed to the mural to pose with a horde of excited fans who’d pieced the clues together.

“I’ve never been more proud of your FBI level detective skills,” she told the assembled Swifties.