Taylor Swift doesn’t need an introduction. And if you know anything about the early 2000s, neither does Brendon Urie, the frontman (and, these days, the only man) of Panic! At the Disco.
Oh, and, surprise! Their collaborative single, “ME!” is doing just fine. After its release on April 26th, the song hit over 65 million views on YouTube within 24 hours. That’s HUGE. Like, “Sorry Ariana, but Taylor wins” huge.
Filled with dazzling pastels, Mary Poppins magic and dancing in the streets, this song is all about two one-of-a-kind people, with each promising to love the other like no one else.
Taylor is pretty confident that her man will never “find another like me.”
Sure, she knows she can be a handful: “I know that I’m a handful baby, uh/I know I never think before I jump/ … I know that I went psycho on the phone/I never leave well enough alone.” Meanwhile, plenty of girls are interested in her man: “And you’re the kind of guy the ladies want/And there’s a lot of cool chicks out there.”
But none of that matters because “when it comes to a lover,” this guy will never find someone like her: “I’m the only one of me/Baby, that’s the fun of me.”
And she knows she’ll never find anyone else like him (“You’re the only one of you/Baby, that’s the fun of you”). Even though he, too, admits his faults (“I know I tend to make it about me/I know you never get just what you see”), he vows to keep her attention (“But I will never bore you ba-a-by”) as the two make the perfect pair.
And when it comes to the video, I imagine Taylor might have had a conversation something like this:
Producer: Hey Taylor, how much pastel do you want in this video?
Taylor: YES!
Producer: Do you want it to look like Reputation?
Taylor: NO!
This video feels like a throwback to much earlier in Taylor’s career: a time when innocence ruled, before the world-weary cynicism of her last couple albums. “ME!” is nothing like Taylor’s last effort, 2017’s Reputation. No, this reminds us of when Taylor still had curly hair, high hopes and crazy optimism. Honestly, it’s almost jarring—but in a good way.
Brendon and Taylor dance delightfully through the most color-drenched story this side of What Dreams May Come. Hues of every shade meet your eye at every turn. Filled with snakes, unicorns, hundreds of women dressed in bright suits and some slightly revealing dresses on Taylor’s part, this video is all fun.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Taylor told the world that her goal with her latest hit is for it to get stuck in listener’s heads and, hopefully, to inspire them to “feel better about themselves.”
More than anything we’ve heard from Taylor Swift in a while, “ME!” might just get that job done.
Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).
