'Dear John: Taylor's Version' Allegedly Recounts Age-Gap Relationship Between Taylor Swift And John Mayer
Neither John Mayer nor Taylor Swift have ever publicly confirmed their rumored 2009-era romance, but did perform together several times that year after initially collaborating on Mayer's song "Half Of My Heart" following the musician tweeting that he'd like to work with Taylor, saying, "She would make a killer [Stevie] 'Nicks' in contrast to my [Tom] 'Petty' of a song." At the time, she was only 19 years old, while John was 32.
On Taylor's album Speak Now, released in 2010 after the end of the alleged relationship, the song "Dear John" was theorized to be about the complicated affair, with lyrics like "Don't you think nineteen is too young / To be played by your dark twisted games / When I loved you so?" seeming to obviously reference the age difference present in her relationship with the "No Such Thing" singer. The pop megastar has never come right out and said the song is about Mayer (despite using the same first name in the title), but she did state to People magazine, "A lot of times when people's relationships end, they write an email to that person and say everything that they wish they would have said. A lot of times they don't push send. Putting it on the album was pushing send."
John, for his part, seems to have fully acknowledged at least his belief that "Dear John" was indeed about him, saying to Rolling Stone in 2012 of the song's release that "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." He added, "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?"
The guitar virtuoso went on to call the song a piece of "cheap songwriting", stating, "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 bulls---."
'Dear John' Returns To Taylor's Live Sets And Fans' Top Of Mind Thanks To Speak Now (Taylor's Version) Release
Now making her way across the globe on her record-breaking Eras tour, Taylor recently played "Dear John" live for the first time in over a decade during a surprise portion of her set, in honor of the Speak Now (Taylor's Version) release. When introducing the song, the musician told audience members, "I was hoping to ask you that as we lead up to this album coming out, I would love for that kindness and that gentleness to extend onto our internet activities. I’m putting this album out because I want to own my music, and I believe that any artist who has the desire to own their music should be able to, that’s why I’m putting out this album." Then, in an apparent direct reference to the content of the 2010 album's songwriting, she added, "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 together. I’m 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 billion years ago."
This seemed to be an allusion to "Dear John" itself, especially in the wake of the frenzy her similarly-themed recording of "All Too Well (Taylor's Version) caused upon its release, becoming the longest song ever to reach the Billboard Top 100. Both the song and music video pretty clearly depicted the singer's similarly age-gapped relationship with actor Jake Gyllenhaal, whom the song portrays as breaking Taylor's heart. Gyllenhaal received a ton of renewed criticism after the re-recorded song's debut, a song which was also ironically the #5 track on Red, just like "Dear John" was the #5 track on Speak Now.
Also similar is how the songs have created scrutiny for their alleged subjects after their release, with Twitter once again assembling in force against Mayer's perceived faults in the 2009-era relationship. "Taylor Swift writing 'Dear John' about her relationship as a 19 year old with 32 year old John Mayer is so good," wrote one fan about the re-release. "I LOVE that young women these days see how predatory relationships like this are and that they are so grossed out by them. Gen Z kids get it."
Another fan added: "taylor swift released speak now [Taylor's Version] so i blocked john mayer [on Twitter]," they said, with a screenshot of their block notice. One Twitter user even called Mayer the "32yo creep that groomed taylor swift," referring to the (legal) age difference between the pair when they dated.
Taylor still has not referred to the song specifically being about John, but the "Your Body is a Wonderland" singer clearly knows it is—he recently made a cryptic Instagram post ahead of the release of Speak Now (Taylor's Version) in which he included an image of lit drones spelling out the words "Please Be Kind," a possible allusion to how fans had treated Jake Gyllenhaal after the release of "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)" and his apparent concern he would receive the same reception for his past deeds.