Additional Coverage:
- Taylor Swift merch box stuffed with shredded copies of Aaron Lewis’ unreleased album cover draws response (foxnews.com)
Aaron Lewis, the lead singer of Staind, recently discovered that the cover art for his forthcoming album was used as shredded packing material inside a Taylor Swift merchandise box.
The incident came to light after a fan shared an unboxing video showing pieces of shredded paper that, when assembled, revealed the cover of Lewis’ unreleased album, “Give Me Back My Country.” Reacting on social media platform X, Lewis expressed his surprise: “Oh look, there’s my new album, that hasn’t even been released yet, shredded as packaging paper in Taylor Swift merch. Ain’t that some s—.”
Scheduled for release on July 17 through Big Machine Label Group, the album’s cover was apparently included in the merchandise packaging without Lewis’ knowledge. He explained that he only found out about the mix-up after his team brought it to his attention.
“I don’t have any social media. I never had it when I was younger.
It’s never felt important to me,” Lewis told USA Today. “I never even had a MySpace.
So I don’t see anything of that type of stuff. And when this was brought to me, I was just like, ‘What is going on?
This is just weird.’”
He emphasized the trust artists place in distribution companies to handle their work responsibly, saying, “That’s the cover to my brand new record that hasn’t even been put out yet. As artists, we put our trust in the distribution companies to get our material way up front and trust that they’ll be responsible with what it is that we give them.”
Lewis admitted he’s uncertain how this unusual situation occurred. “I hate to think it’s malicious, but at the same time, I don’t know that it’s not,” he said.
“I haven’t even put the record out yet. It’s not like it’s old stuff that was just sitting around that they decided to make packing material out of.
It’s my new record. I just don’t understand how something like that can happen.”
Despite the confusion, Lewis was careful to distance Taylor Swift herself from the incident. “We live in two very, very different worlds.
And she’s such a huge star that her world doesn’t intertwine with anyone’s worlds,” he noted. “I certainly wouldn’t be trying to bring her into this or blame her for anything.
It just so happens that it was my record cover in her gift box for her fans.”
Lewis also clarified that he does not want the situation to be seen as a promotional stunt. “I don’t want people to think that this was an opportunity to promote my new record,” he said. “I don’t understand how a shredded-up copy of my new record’s art ended up in a Taylor Swift gift box for her fans.”
Representatives for Big Machine Label Group and Universal Music Group, who reportedly managed the product and merchandising, have not yet commented on the matter. Meanwhile, the album’s release date remains set for mid-July.