If you’re a Swiftie or call yourself a Taylor Swift fan in any way, there are certain rules to abide by—one of which is to completely take sides with Swift at all costs after she goes through a breakup. This means you will analyze every word of every song to decipher meanings, cry and feel every emotion she must have felt at the time, and, most importantly, loathe whoever it is that broke her heart.
After Swift’s rerelease of her studio album Red, now-titled Red (Taylor’s Version), her mega fanbase went absolutely crazy on Jake Gyllenhaal who appeared to be the main focus of her single and ten-minute long video for the single “All Too Well.” He was now the official villain of all of Hollywood and deserved to be shunned by all of society because of what he did to Taylor—at least that’s what Swifties would say. Well, if Gyllenhaal is being called out for his behavior, fans decided it was time to call out another relationship that they didn’t think was fair to their goddess—her relationship with John Mayer.
Taylor Swift Began Dating John Mayer In 2009
Swift and Mayer have a brief but intense history, and although they never called out their relationship publicly, it’s rumored that their whirlwind romance lasted from 2009 into 2010. It all started when Mayer tweeted his thoughts about comparing Swift to Stevie Nicks and wanted her to sing on his new song “Half of my Heart” back in early 2009. Swift, being a fan of Mayer’s, was over-the-top excited and couldn’t believe he would even tweet about her.
By mid-2009, the single was recorded, and to no one’s surprise, it was a favorite on his Grammy-nominated fourth record, Battle Studies. Fast forward to the end of 2009 when the duo performed the song at Z100’s Jingle Ball in New York City—this is when fans started to get suspicious about a brewing relationship. However, come early 2010, after being spotted having dinner in Nashville, the under-wraps power couple seemed to have gone separate ways.
Swifties Hate John Mayer After The Relationship Ended
If you know Taylor Swift, you know she’s not going to stay quiet about the way her relationships came to an end, or more importantly—who was at fault. So, when she released her album Speak Now in October of 2010, the track “Dear John” seemed to make a not-so-subtle nod to Mr. Mayer. The lyrics are glaringly obvious to Swift fans, “Dear John, I see it all now that you’re gone / Don’t you think I was too young to be messed with? / The girl in the dress cried the whole way home / Dear John, I see it all now, it was wrong / Don’t you think nineteen’s too young / To be played by your dark, twisted games / When I loved you so? / I shoulda known.”
As far as Swift fans are concerned, the pop star was taken advantage of by an older (Mayer was 32 at the time, while Swift was 19), more seasoned musician. He should have kept his distance knowing her age and her vulnerability at that time. Now? Mayer was officially on the blacklist of all Swifties.
How John Mayer Has Responded To Taylor Swift And Her Fans
Of course, the “Daughters” singer-songwriter wasn’t oblivious or unaware that Swift’s song was about him—but he wasn’t exactly thrilled that he found out along with everyone else. “I never got an e-mail. I never got a phone call,” Mayer told Rolling Stone. “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?”
From a musician’s standpoint, Mayer also wasn’t impressed with the reasoning or storyline behind her lyrics. “I will say as a songwriter that I think it’s kind of cheap songwriting,” he went on to say. “I know she’s the biggest thing in the world, and I’m not trying to sink anybody’s ship, but I think it’s abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, ‘Wait till he gets a load of this!’ That’s bullshit.”
Not being able to stay quiet himself, Mayer went on to release a song called “Paper Doll,” which is speculated to be his comeback diss song. “You’re like twenty-two girls in one / And none of them know what they’re running from / Was it just too far to fall / For a little paper doll,” are just a few of the lyrics—and he even mentions a red scarf.
Since Swift’s rerelease in 2021, the rage has been upon Mayer once again and ride-or-die Swifties even took it so far as to start threatening the musician and sending him terrifyingly angry messages. Shortly after joining TikTok earlier in the year (even before her album rerelease), he posted a video that amassed a barrage of comments from Swift fans, many of them berating him and quoting lyrics from “Dear John.”
By the time her album came out to the public, Mayer even received messages expressing their hopes that he dies. The messages have since been removed but screenshots have been saved of the conversation between a supposed Swift fan named “Alondra” and the “Your Body is a Wonderland” artist. She initially starts the conversation by saying “f*** yourself ugly b**** i hope you choke on something,” followed by a heart emoji. Although Mayer receives random messages all of the time, this particular message struck a chord with him.
Mayer ended up reaching out to the disgruntled Swift fan and wanted to strike up a real conversation, “Hi Alondra, it’s John. I’ve been getting so many messages like these the past couple of days, I decided to choose your message at random to reply to,” he supposedly replied. “You can feel free to screenshot, share in any way you like if you want. I’m not upset, I just tend to have a curious mind and feel compelled to ask. Do you really hope that I die?” The person was shocked that he replied and apologized for making him feel bad, they claimed it was a dare and never thought he would see it, let alone be affected by it.
Whatever your stance on John Mayer is, it’s safe to say that if you date Taylor Swift, don’t forget about her army.
