Great albums with the wrong lead single: Lover by Taylor Swift

Lover - Taylor Swift

It’s no secret that Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour was a massive success both in promoting her newer music as well as reigniting audiences’ passion for her back catalogue.

Her album, Lover, is a prime example. While the album was by no means a commercial failure in 2019 when it was released, its performance was a little below Swift’s standards and the critical reactions were particularly mixed.

A contributing factor to this disappointing outing for her was undoubtedly her choice of lead single. The first taste of Lover the public received was the song, “ME!,” a simple, upbeat, self-love anthem accompanied by a marching band and Brendon Urie.

Many found the song to be juvenile and uninspired. Swift was almost certainly aware of this perception, as when she was compiling the setlist for The Eras Tour, despite Lover having six of its songs included on the setlist, its lead single was not one of them.

Instead, she performed a non-single from the album, “Cruel Summer.” Its wildly catchy bridge and explosive chorus never failed to energize the crowd for the three-hour concert they were about to witness.

The Eras Tour catapulted this song to popularity it had never seen before. Swift’s team quickly made the song a single and it then hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, four years after its initial release.

It has a wide appeal and clearly resonates with audiences. It likely should’ve been the lead single for Lover all along.

Megan Schmotzer is a third-year majoring in media studies. To contact her, email mls7350@psu.edu