Aaron Lewis’ album Give Me Back My Country was reportedly used as shredded packaging material for Taylor Swift merchandise. The album cover was discovered by a Swift fan, used as packaging for a CD collection featuring Swift’s new track, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” from the Toy Story 5 soundtrack. Lewis’ album, which was released on July 17, was apparently shredded and repurposed as packaging.

Lewis, the frontman of Staind, appeared to react to the discovery on Twitter, expressing his surprise that his unreleased album artwork had ended up in Swift merchandise. “Oh look, there’s my new album that hasn’t even been released yet, shredded as packaging paper in Taylor Swift merch,” he wrote. “Ain’t that some shit.”

Lewis’ album is being released by Big Machine Label Group, which was formerly Swift’s record label. Lewis expressed frustration over the incident, emphasizing the trust artists place in distribution companies, “That’s the cover to my brand new record that hasn’t even been put out yet. 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.”

However, Lewis made clear that he does not hold Swift responsible for the leak. Instead, he attributed the incident to the unexpected overlap between the singer’s promotional campaign and the handling of his unreleased album artwork. “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. 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.”

The incident comes after a long controversial history for Lewis. In 2023, to promote his solo tour Lewis spelt “Trump 2024” using 32 dead coyotes and fans were rightfully disturbed by his actions. Lewis also openly supports Trump, leading a “Fuck Biden” chant during his live show in 2021.