Taylor Swift Wants Fans to Lay Off John Mayer Ahead of 'Speak Now' Re-Release, Says They Shouldn't "Feel the Need to Defend Me"
It needed to be said.
Fans are great... most of the time.
Sadly, when too many people with access to social media like a specific artist very much, they can often come together to harass people who they feel hurt their fave—even if said hurt happened, like, over a decade ago.
As such, Taylor Swift had some important words to share with her audience during a recent Eras Tour stop in Minneapolis, as she sang the song "Dear John," from her 2010 album Speak Now. This was significant in itself, because Swift very rarely performs this song, but was also a calculated move given that she's preparing to release Speak Now (Taylor's Version) on July 7.
On stage, Swift told her fans, "I was hoping to ask you, that as we lead up to this album, I would love for that kindness and that gentleness to extend onto our internet activities" (via Teen Vogue).
"I'm 33 years old. I don't care about anything that happened to me when I was 19 except for songs I wrote and the memories that we made together.
"What I'm trying to tell you, is that I am not putting this album out so that you can go and should feel the need to defend me on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about 14 million years ago. I do not care. We have all grown up. We're good."
"Dear John" is widely thought to be about John Mayer, whom Swift is believed to have dated when she was 19 and he was 32, and it's safe to say Swifties are not fans of Mayer's to this day.
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Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like the message was completely heard. When Pop Base shared a clip from Swift's concert on Twitter, one person wrote, "we’re still gonna hate on john mayer i fear"
Another said, "John Mayer is still over let’s be real"
Still others backed Swift, writing things like, "she’s so real for addressing this."
Similarly, when Swift re-released her album Red—including a ten-minute version of "All Too Well"—fans were quick to hate on Jake Gyllenhaal, who is almost certainly the subject of the song.
Hopefully, Swifties can heed their fave's warning this time around.
Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.