Aaron Lewis Drops Savage Response After Record Label Shreds His Unreleased Album to Wrap Taylor Swift Merch Right Before Her Wedding
Taylor Swift’s latest merchandise release has sparked an unexpected controversy after country artist Aaron Lewis discovered that pages from his unreleased album had been shredded and used as packing material inside fans’ orders.
“Oh look, there’s my new album, that hasn’t even been released yet, shredded as packaging paper in Taylor Swift merch,” the Staind frontman wrote on X on Thursday. “Ain’t that some s—.”
Lewis was reacting to a fan’s unboxing video showing someone piecing together shredded paper that ultimately revealed the cover art for his forthcoming album, Give Me Back My Country.
Fans who purchased Swift’s new I Knew It, I Knew You CD collection initially believed the shredded pages contained hidden Taylor Swift lyrics. Instead, Swifties quickly realized the paper consisted of lyrics, artwork, and album pages from Lewis’ upcoming record, which is scheduled for release on July 17 through Big Machine Label Group, Swift’s former label. The merchandise is handled by Universal Music Group.
Lewis said he only became aware of the incident after his team informed him, explaining that he does not use social media.
“I don’t have any social media. I didn’t have it when I was younger. It’s never felt important to me,” he 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.’”
The “Country Boy” singer said he was shocked that fans had received pieces of an album that has yet to be released.
“That’s the cover to my brand new record that hasn’t even been put out yet,” he said.
“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, whose music has taken a more conservative direction since his early nu-metal years with Staind, said he has no explanation for how the album materials ended up being used as packaging filler.
“I don’t know how this happened,” he admitted. “I hate to think it’s malicious, but at the same time, I don’t know that it’s not.”
“I haven’t even put the record out yet,” he continued. “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.”
Lewis previously met Swift at a Nashville event in 2016 while they were both affiliated with Big Machine. He stressed that he does not hold the Grammy-winning singer responsible for the packaging mistake.
“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 said.
“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 insisted he is not trying to use the incident to promote his new album.
“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.”
