John Mayer Calls His Song About Taylor Swift ‘A Little Bitchy’
John Mayer performs at the Seventh Annual LOVE ROCKS NYC Benefit Concert for God’s Love We Deliver at Beacon Theatre on March 9, 2023 in New York City. Taylor Swift at Dolby Theatre on March 27, 2023 in Hollywood, California.
Taylor Swift’s exes have started to break their silence on the singer-songwriter since her recent breakup with Joe Alwyn. John Mayer, who dated Taylor briefly from November 2009 to February 2010, is revisiting one of his tracks written about her.
Mayer performed his 2013 track “Paper Doll” during a concert over the weekend in Sacramento, California. As seen in a video circulating on social media, John mused as he strummed the opening chords on his guitar, “I wonder if people don’t like it because it sounds a little pissed off.”
RELATED: John Mayer Addresses His ‘Womanizer’ Reputation
“I don’t really like ‘pissed off’ as a song,” he continued, admitting, “I think there’s something about it that’s a little bitchy.” Scrunching up his face after calling his song “bitchy,” the musician continued to reflect on the song. While Mayer tries “not to give bitchiness” in “Paper Doll,” he acknowledged that it “happens sometimes.”
Now starting to come off as sarcastic about it all, Mayer told the crowd, “I guess I don’t do it very well. Sarcastic bitch, but I didn’t really see it. I guess it is sort of a little bit like ‘nyah.'”
“Paper Doll” and “Dear John”
“Paper Doll” was released as the lead single for his sixth studio album Paradise Valley and has long been speculated to be a musical response to Taylor’s 2010 track “Dear John.” Though neither artist has ever publicly revealed the inspiration behind their respective tracks, the lyrics are obviously about each other. The lyrics for “Paper Doll” read: “‘Cause you’re like 22 girls in one. And none of them know what they’re runnin’ from.”
Meanwhile, Taylor’s “Dear John” says, “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.'” The pair dated when Swift was 19 and Mayer was 32.
Taylor Swift Fans Make John Mayer Trend Following 'Midnights' Drop
Taylor Swift’s highly-anticipated 10th studio album Midnights dropped today (October 21) and fans have been going wild on social media. Swift surprised fans with seven bonus tracks when she dropped Midnights (3am Edition) at 3 am. They include “The Great War,” “Bigger Than the Whole Sky,” “Paris,” “High Infidelity,” “Glitch” “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” and “Dear Reader.” As promised, she released the music video for track 3: “Anti-Hero.” Per her Midnights Manifest schedule, lyric videos to the album will be released at 8 pm ET Friday.
Directed by Swift herself, the award-winning singer-songwriter dropped Easter eggs and cinematic parallels throughout the whole video, calling back to previous eras. Here’s a Insane Easter eggs and hidden details from the #AntiHeroMusicVideo that prove Taylor Swift really is a mastermind – a thread #MidnightsTaylorSwift pic.twitter.com/WvPzVM8Tjn
— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) October 21, 2022?s=20&t=Q9yGPlYDbgJy3wD_0rRzrg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thread pointing out all of those hidden details from the mastermind herself. As always, Swift took to Instagram to debut some behind-the-scenes pictures from the “Anti-Hero” music video shoot. The singer introduced the video by writing, “Watch my nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts play out in real time.”
Watch the “Anti-Hero” music video below.
Swift wrote of her bonus tracks, “Surprise! I think of Midnights as a complete concept album, with those 13 songs forming a full picture of the intensities of that mystifying, mad hour. However! There were other songs we wrote on our journey to find that magic 13. I’m calling them 3am tracks. Lately I’ve been loving the feeling of sharing more of our creative process with you, like we do with From The Vault tracks. So it’s 3am and I’m giving them to you now.”
One of the bonus tracks in particular was noticed by Swifties as being a dig at Taylor’s ex-boyfriend John Mayer. She already wrote “Dear John” about him on her Speak Now (2010) album. The two dated briefly between 2009 and 2010, when she was 19 and he was 32. Now, track 19, titled “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” seemingly calls out Mayer once more, firing up Swifties once again. The song’s chorus features lyrics: “I damn sure never would’ve danced with the devil / At nineteen / And the God’s honest truth is that the pain was heaven / And now that I’m grown, I’m scared of ghosts / Memories feel like weapons.” Following that, Swift’s lyrics are: “If you never touched me, I would’ve / Gone along with the righteous.”
“Taylor really put Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve, a song directly about her relationship with John Mayer when she was just 19, as TRACK 19 ON THE ALBUM. SHOTS WERE FIRED,” wrote one person on Taylor really put Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve, a song directly about her relationship with John Mayer when she was just 19, as TRACK 19 ON THE ALBUM. SHOTS WERE FIRED
— michael 🌹 (@thatgaymichael) October 21, 2022?s=20&t=Q9yGPlYDbgJy3wD_0rRzrg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter. “john mayer was sleeping peacefully but was awoken at 3am with a chill down his spine” wrote another. “something tells me john mayer just jumped out of his sleep with a gasp. i know he felt a shift,” wrote one person. Another found it amusing that Mayer was called out, writing, “i cant stop laughing taylor really said actually i don’t want to wait for speak now taylors version to be released to drag john mayer i need him to suffer NOW.”
Check out the songs from Midnights below:
Laila Abuelhawa is the Top 40 and Hip-Hop pop culture writer for Beasley Media Group. Being with the company for over three years, Laila's fierce and fabulous red-carpet rankings have earned her a feature on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert!' Her favorite stories are those surrounding the latest in celebrity fashion, television and film rankings, and how the world reacts to major celebrity news. With a background in journalism, Laila's stories ensure accuracy and offer background information on stars that you wouldn't have otherwise known. She prides herself in covering stories that inform the public about what is currently happening and what is to come in the ever-changing, ever-evolving media landscape.
