Both lead singles were hotly anticipated after being massively teased by Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga.

 

Both the Swifties and the Monsters were largely disappointed with the respective singles - some pretended to like it but deep down mostly everyone was disappointed  there are countless reaction videos of people reacting to both songs fake smiling or downright acknowledging their disappointment.

 

But which song was the bigger letdown for its fanbase? Which song is more iconic in the way it disappointed everyone?

Nothing compares to the let down that was ME! everyone thought her career was over for good for a while 

PI was worse cuz we lost PopGa

but the ME!ltdown was more iconique

Perfect Illusion is actually a good song 

Perfect Illusion was at least a new direction. ME! was just a reheated 1989 rihject featuring Brendon Urie.

ME!

Perfect Illusion was hated from the start. Everyone who pretended to like ME! ended up admitting that it‘s a horrible song. ME! was a disaster. When the numbers came it, there was no need to lie anymore

Only tasteless ******* hate PI lol

Difficult question, however the expectations after the disastrous (in quality and commercial performance) ARTPOP weren't high at all. But GaGa still managed to fail to match even these low expectations by releasing the worst lead single of all time with Perfect Illusion.

 

ME! on the other hand was a disappointment simply because Taylor Swift had been constantly known for perfect pop music with great lyricism. It was her first real misstep in terms of quality that lead into the messy Lover era, which still was an era most other pop girls could wish for, but her standards are just that high and she redeemed herself with Folklore less than a year later and is now bigger than ever.

 

The same unfortunately can't be said for Lady GaGa, so she's the bigger letdown, not the more iconic one though.

Edited November 4, 20223 yr by Breakdown

3 minutes ago, Brando said:

Perfect Illusion is actually a good song 

there's a good song in there somewhere but it sends me how badly mixed her vocals are and the rest of the track too, the way they just flat cranked up the volume during the choruses  but yeah at least it was a bold new direction for her

 

ME! will be studied by pop historians for decades I feel  it would have ended anyone else's career but Taylor Swift is too powerful and can afford to drop a song like that

Biggest letdown: Perfect Illusion since it was a flop and a half. 

 

More iconic: ME!, since everyone claimed it was a flop when it actually wasn't and still gets many stream per day. 

the one with lyrics such as ''hey kids, spelling is fun''

Edited November 4, 20223 yr by brooks

PI feels like it's trying so hard, that key change is so tacky  ME! would have been fine without the spelling is fun line, still not good but not a mess

Perfect Illusion is actually a good track so the other one

I actually really like Perfect Illusion nnnn

I hated it at the time, but it's really grown on me since

 

ME! was just... rough. I honestly have not listened in years, and it's the only Taylor song with that cordon sanitaire around it 

1 hour ago, dylanx said:

there's a good song in there somewhere but it sends me how badly mixed her vocals are and the rest of the track too, the way they just flat cranked up the volume during the choruses  but yeah at least it was a bold new direction for her

 

ME! will be studied by pop historians for decades I feel  it would have ended anyone else's career but Taylor Swift is too powerful and can afford to drop a song like that

Tbh... the engineering and mixing of Joanne overall is a bit shoddy (even though it's my favorite Gaga album and I love all the songs of it). I get that there is supposed to be an "analog" element to all the songs as a theme, but I think it would have sounded better if it was done in like... sound design instead. Also the fact that the album is mastered at such a low volume is weird as well, i have to crank my headphone's volume up by so much everytime a Joanne song comes on random. 

36 minutes ago, Arthoe said:

Tbh... the engineering and mixing of Joanne overall is a bit shoddy (even though it's my favorite Gaga album and I love all the songs of it). I get that there is supposed to be an "analog" element to all the songs as a theme, but I think it would have sounded better if it was done in like... sound design instead. Also the fact that the album is mastered at such a low volume is weird as well, i have to crank my headphone's volume up by so much everytime a Joanne song comes on random. 

That is so weird. I've never noticed that issue with Joanne, but I have with the new Tove Lo album.

 

OT: At the time if release, I would say PI was the bigger disappointment for me. Looking back though, it's definitely the better song.

Me! is fine, the faux indie-rock shouting song is terrible though.

 

people saying ME! is a better song than PI 

ME! is taylor's cant stop the feeling and should not have been released, or at least had different lyrics and a not-so-childish-instrumental and/or vocal takes

Perfect Illusion is an amazing song and is one of my favs from Gagz

Me! was a bigger letdown, with the growth shown on Reputation I would've expected something as high quality as Cardigan. Me! is just so bad, I can't defend it. I can defend You Need to Calm Down because honestly it's kinda fun! thankfully she redeemed her lead single streak with Cardigan lol

 

Perfect Illusion... man she really did fumble the bag there. A-Yo, Diamond Heart, and John Wayne were all right there ready to go viral and capture the hearts of the GP back after Artpop! Perfect Illusion isn't a really bad song, but it lacks the chorus it needed to really sound like a timeless BIG hit (like all of her other leads, and yes that includes Stupid Love even though I don't personally like Stupid Love)

 

both of them truly redeemed themselves, which is commendable, but yeah Me! was the bigger letdown and the more iconic letdown

ME! was a far worse single

ME! was a bigger letdown because we had higher expectations for a song from Taylor Joel Little.

As others have mentioned, "Perfect Illusion" was considered a disappointment because it took a different direction from what Little Monsters were expecting and hoping from Gaga. It's actually a pretty cool song with interesting ideas throughout. Maybe not the best introduction to the "Joanne" era, but still a respectable song further showcasing her artistic versatility.

 

Meanwhile, "ME!" was an artist regression on all aspects. I'll actually defend the corny bridge, because at least it gave the song some much-needed personality and memorable trait - for better or worse. Besides that, it's such a faceless, painfully generic composition, with underwhelming production and mediocre hooks (Emeli Sandé did the 'me-he-he' much better on the UK smash "Next To Me"). Everything about it is so beneath her, which makes it all the more baffling why she thought it was lead single material - let alone a song that should have made the album at all. It's pure filler, and the 'statement' quality could have easily been brought with the much superior "Paper Rings". 

 

So obviously, "ME!" was also the most iconic letdown, especially with how Taylor and Brendon genuinely believed it was something to be proud about. The live performances were admittedly fun and charming,though, I'll give them that.

 

I think a more interesting fight would be "ME!" vs. "Stupid Love", which was the real frustrating regression from Gaga - down to the derivative title 

(the production on the song is genuinely great, don't get me wrong, but the lyrics are so weak and uninspired)

Perfect Illusion might be flop but it's a masterpiece. I still enjoy listening to this song. It's amazing. 

ME! on the other hand is just terrible 

ME!. Taylor deserved to flop for including this trash on her album