Aaron Lewis’ upcoming album cover was seemingly used as shredded packaging paper in a Taylor Swift merchandise box.
On Thursday, the Staind frontman took to social media to respond to a fan’s unboxing video, which showed the young woman piecing together shredding paper of the cover of Lewis’ unreleased record “Give Me Back My Country.”
“Oh look, there’s my new album, that hasn’t even been released yet, shredded as packaging paper in Taylor Swift merch,” he wrote on X. “Ain’t that some s—.”
The upcoming album is set for release on July 17 through Big Machine Label Group.
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Lewis said he wasn’t aware of the mix-up until his team notified him.
“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.'”
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“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.”
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Lewis said he’s unsure how this happened.
“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 its 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.”
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Despite the circumstances, Lewis has no ill will towards Swift.
“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.”
“I don’t want people to think that this was an opportunity to promote my new record,” Lewis 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 handled overseeing product management and merchandising, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
