Aaron Lewis, the frontman of Staind, faced a surprising situation when the cover of his upcoming album appeared as shredded packaging within a Taylor Swift merchandise box. On Thursday, Lewis responded to a fan’s unboxing video that pieced together the shredded paper, revealing the cover of his unreleased album titled “Give Me Back My Country.”
Lewis expressed his disbelief on social media platform X, stating, ‘Oh look, there’s my new album, that hasn’t even been released yet, shredded as packaging paper in Taylor Swift merch’.
The new album is scheduled for release on July 17, under Big Machine Label Group.
Taylor Swift’s merchandise box, distributed by Universal Music Group, unexpectedly contained pieces of Lewis’ album art.
Lewis mentioned he had no prior awareness of the situation until his team informed him, explaining that he doesn’t participate in social media activities. He told USA Today, ‘I don’t have any social media. I didn’t have it when I was younger. It’s never felt important to me’.
“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,’”
Concerning the matter, Lewis speculated on the occurrence, stating he doesn’t suspect any malicious intent but remains perplexed about how the shredded cover ended as packing material.
Despite the incident, Lewis holds no grudges against Swift. He expressed, ‘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’. Lewis clarified he’s not blaming Swift for the misstep, acknowledging her global celebrity status.
Representatives from Big Machine Label Group and Universal Music Group, involved with product management and merchandising oversight, did not promptly comment on requests from Fox News Digital.
Christina Dugan Ramirez, a journalist with extensive experience in entertainment, contributed to this coverage. Ramirez holds over 15 years in the field, including a decade writing for PEOPLE and covering high-profile events before joining Fox News Digital.