
Taylor Swift and John Mayer Shutterstock; Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock
Taylor Swift is aware of there’s no higher track inspiration than relationships — and he or she’s seemingly written a number of tunes about her whirlwind romance with John Mayer.
Sparks flew between the 2 after collaborating on Mayer’s 2009 single “Half of My Heart.” However, their relationship sparked some controversy for his or her massive age hole as Mayer was 32 and Swift was 19 on the time.
Their age distinction is one thing Swift not-so-subtly referred to as out in her 2010 breakup monitor “Dear John” off her album Speak Now, singing, “Dear John, I see it all now, it was wrong / Don’t you think 19’s too young to be played by your dark, twisted games when I loved you so? / I should’ve known.”
Swift beforehand tried to play coy when requested about penning the monitor about Mayer. “How presumptuous!” she instructed Glamour in October 2012. “I never disclose who my songs are about.”
In 2019, the “Shake It Off” songstress introduced she could be rerecording her first six albums — Speak Now included — after dropping management of her masters to music supervisor Scooter Braun. Ahead of the July 2023 launch of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Swift inspired followers to unfold kindness on-line as a substitute of hate. “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,” she stated throughout a June 2023 cease on The Eras Tour earlier than performing “Dear John.”
The night time earlier than the rerecorded album’s launch, Mayer added gasoline to the rumor fireplace by sharing a cryptic message through Instagram. In a slideshow of pics, he posted a snap of the phrases “Please Be Kind” written within the sky at one in all his concert events.
Keep scrolling for each track Swift has reportedly penned about her and Mayer’s relationship:
‘Dear John,’ Speak Now (2010)
“Dear John” is maybe Swift’s most notable track about Mayer, from the tune’s title to its scathing lyrics about their 13-year-age hole to the ache she skilled following their 2010 cut up. Fans have even famous that the monitor’s comfortable guitar sound is much like that of Mayer’s personal music.
Released eight months after their February 2010 cut up, Swift sings, “And you’ll add my name to your long list of traitors who don’t understand / And I’ll look back and regret how I ignored when they said ‘run as fast as you can.’” Prior to his romance with Swift, Mayer was linked to Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jessica Simpson, Minka Kelly and Jennifer Aniston.
Mayer later stated in a June 2012 interview with Rolling Stone that the track “humiliated him” and made him “feel terrible.” He continued: “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.”
The following 12 months, he launched the track “Paper Doll,” supposedly about his relationship with Swift. “And if those angel wings don’t fly, someone’s gonna paint you another sky,” he sings, seemingly referring to the “Dear John” lyrics “You paint me a blue sky and go back and turn it to rain.”

‘The Story of Us,’ Speak Now (2010)
Swift beforehand instructed USA Today that her muses for “The Story of Us” and “Dear John” have been the identical individual. “’The Story of Us’ is about running into someone I had been in a relationship with at an awards show, and we were seated a few seats away from each other,” she defined. “I just wanted to say to him, ‘Is this killing you? Because it’s killing me.’ But I didn’t. Because I couldn’t. Because we both had these silent shields up.”
The track seemingly particulars the aftermath of their awkward encounter on the 2010 CMT Awards in June 2010. “Now I’m standing alone in a crowded room and we’re not speaking / And I’m dying to know, is it killing you like it’s killing me yeah,” the lyrics state.
Swift goes on to check their reunion to “a contest of who can act like they care less,” although she sings that she “liked it better when you were on my side.”
‘Ours,’ Speak Now (2010)
Unlike a few of her different tracks seemingly about Mayer, “Ours” sheds a happier look on their relationship because it tells the story of a pair whose love persists regardless of different individuals’s objections. While the tune could possibly be about Swift’s different romantic connections featured on Speak Now — akin to Taylor Lautner or Joe Jonas — the track’s lyrics characteristic an outline harking back to Mayer’s look.
“’Cause I love the gap between the teeth,” Swift sings along with mentioning the man within the track has tattoos. Not solely does Mayer have a niche between his two backside entrance enamel but in addition a sleeve of tattoos on his left arm.
‘Superman,’ Speak Now (2010)
Much like “Ours,” lyrics from the Speak Now deluxe version monitor “Superman” characteristic an outline many consider could possibly be Mayer. “Tall, dark and beautiful,” Swift sings within the track, seemingly describing the looks of the tune’s titular superhero.
The lyrics additionally state, “He’s not all bad like his reputation.” The similar 12 months as Speak Now’s launch, Mayer was closely criticized after utilizing the N-word and making misogynistic feedback in interviews with Playboy and Rolling Stone.
‘I Knew You Were Trouble,’ Red (2012)
Swift continued to write down about her previous with Mayer on her fourth studio album, Red. While speaking in regards to the monitor “IKYWT” on Good Morning America, Swift described the track as about “kind of being frustrated with yourself because you have your heart broken and you knew when you first saw that person you saw all these red flags and you just went for it anyway.”
In the track’s refrain, she recollects that she knew somebody — presumably Mayer — was bother from early on of their relationship, and that she is ashamed for not recognizing it sooner.

‘Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve,’ Midnights (2022)
More than a decade after the discharge of “Speak Now” Swift dropped one in all her most scathing songs about Mayer on her tenth studio album, Midnights. “And I damn sure would’ve never danced with the devil / At 19, and the God’s honest truth is that the pain was heaven / And now that I’m grown, I’m scared of ghosts,” she sings within the tune’s refrain, referring to the age she was throughout their romance. “Memories feel like weapons / And now that I know, I wish you left me wondering.”
Perhaps the track’s most gut-wrenching lyric comes within the bridge as Swift sings, “If clarity’s in death, then why won’t this die? / Years of tearing down our banners, you and I / Living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts / Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first.”
Throughout the track, the Grammy winner additionally states that her fling with Mayer is one thing she regrets “all the time.”
‘Foolish One,’ Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (2023)
Though “Foolish One” didn’t make the monitor record of the unique Speak Now album, Swift launched the monitor as one in all many vault songs on the album’s July 2023 rerecording. Much like “Dear John,” Swift continues to recall how she missed the pink flags in her and Mayer’s relationship. “And I’ll look back and regret how I ignored when they said / ‘Run as fast as you can,’” she sings.
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The lyrics additionally share perception into Swift’s feelings following their breakup and the way she longed for reconciliation on Mayer’s half. “Foolish one / Stop checkin’ your mailbox for confessions of love / That ain’t never gonna come / You will take the long way, you will take the long way down,” she says within the track.
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