Another day, another man trying it with Taylor Swift (at this point, you’d think they would learn to just…not).
On Sunday, John Mayer went on his weekly Instagram livestream “Current Mood” with recent Lover remix collaborator, Shawn Mendes. The conversation started lightly, only for John to tread into dangerous territory: making fun of an ex on social media. And even worse, to do it when said ex is a mega-famous pop star in the midst of a public debacle with her old management.
For background: John and Taylor dated briefly from December 2009 to February 2010. Taylor allegedly penned “Dear John” about their relationship, and judging by the scorching lyrics (“Maybe it's you and your sick need to give love then take it away”), we can assume it wasn’t a great one. John on his end, wrote “Paper Dolls” as a likely response.
On his livestream, John went on to talk about the lyrics in “Lover,” joking, “[Taylor’s] insane. Everyone keeps their Christmas lights up until January. And I go, ‘Can you really?' Because normally I take my Christmas lights down on December 29.”
He then continued with his own take on the lyrics: “We can keep the Christmas lights up ’til January. And then about January 5, we’ll take the lights down. And then we’ll put ’em in a box and we’ll label that box ‘Christmas lights.’ Yeah, we’ll put ’em in the attic until next December. Well, that’s a crazy love, I’ll tell you.”
With a swiftness unlike any other fandom, Taylor Swift fans immediately went on social media with their annoyance about John’s decision to talk about her lyrics (and rewrite them, even if it is for a joke). As one fan put it, “Do i continously drag taylor for the christmas lights line? yes. does that mean john mayer is allowed to? no f*cking way.”
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Of course, fans aren’t pleased with Shawn either. His silence following the Scooter and Scott debacle has been widely criticized by the fandom (especially when so many of Taylor’s friends and contemporaries supported her), and many are pointing out the hypocrisy of going on John's social media while staying so quiet on his own.
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But don’t let this weekend’s incident take away from the real Taylor Swift news: In addition to getting permission to perform her old hits at the American Music Awards, Taylor has also been named Billboard’s first Woman of the Decade. So while the haters are hating and the fakers are faking, Taylor Swift is going to do what she does best: Shake it off.
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