For a pop mega star who is known for weaving some of her soul-wrenching breakup tales into her discography, Taylor Swift’s release of the re-recorded album, Speak Now has made many fans revisit a painful memory. We are talking about her rumored tumultuous relationship with John Mayer back in 2009 which many believe to have been captured in her song, “Dear John.”
With the album’s release, it is inevitable that the piece will once again be restored to its former reputation as one of Swift’s most popular numbers. In fact, with the constant cyberbullying directed towards Mayer at the moment, it can be stated with certainty that the effects of Swifties’ long-lost memory of the infamous romance and breakup have started to surface, pushing many to reflect on when the pair may have dated.
When did Taylor Swift date John Mayer?
All attention was steered toward the 19-year-old Swift and 32-year-old Mayer when they decided to collaborate on the latter’s single “Half of My Heart.” The same year, the pair openly expressed admiration for each other with Taylor announcing herself as a big fan of Mayer’s, with the latter returning the favor by praising her talents, calling her a “friend” as well as “one of the smartest, most talented people around.”
Speculation about a possible romance began to rise after the duo was spotted having dinner together in January 2010 in Nashville following Swift’s breakup with Taylor Lautner. However, it was the release of Swift’s “Dear John” in October that instilled the idea of her breakup with Mayer in people’s minds.
Even though Swift denied the song’s association with Mayer; the “Assassin” singer’s subsequent comments in 2012 allowed people to draw a link between the two. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Mayer said that the song made him feel terrible:
“Because I didn’t deserve it. I’m pretty good at taking accountability now, and I never did anything to deserve that. It was a really lousy thing for her to do. I never got an email. I never got a phone call. I was really caught off-guard, and it really humiliated me at a time when I’d already been dressed down. I mean, how would you feel if, at the lowest you’ve ever been, someone kicked you even lower?”
Responding to the comment in a rare interview with Glamour, Swift implied him to be “presumptuous” for linking him with her song. “How presumptuous! I never disclose who my songs are about,” was the “22” singer’s exact response on the subject.
It’s been a decade since the misunderstanding and supposed heartbreaks. And today, Swift is seemingly willing to let go of the bygones for good and is imploring her fans to do the same. Her recent comments against the relentless backlash towards Mayer is proof of that. Before performing “Dear John” in Minneapolis on Saturday, she addressed the subject by saying:
“I’m 33 years old. I don’t care about anything that happened to me when I was 19, except the songs I wrote and the memories we made. So, what I’m trying to tell you is that I’m not putting this album out so that you should go and feel the need to defend me on the Internet against someone you think I might have written the song about 14 million years ago.”
Even though it is inevitable that the upcoming album is going to stir some buried emotions, fans are ready to keep that aside for now and wait for Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) which was released on July 7, 2023.
