Taylor Swift Asks For ‘Kindness’ Ahead Of ‘Dear John’ Performance
Taylor Swift performs during the TIME 100 Gala 2019 Dinner at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 23, 2019 in New York City.
Taylor Swift Taylor Swift on the release of ‘Speak Now’ TV before performing ‘Dear John’:
“I’m 33 years old, I don’t care about anything that happened to me when I was 19… I’m not putting this album out so you can go on the internet and defend me against someone you think I wrote a song… pic.twitter.com/cFQbKQk8vD
— Pop Base (@PopBase) June 25, 2023?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told the crowd over the weekend to practice “kindness” ahead of the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). She mentioned this at her Minneapolis show this weekend. The 33-year-old singer-songwriter made it clear that she isn’t re-recording her albums to be defended “on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about.” Swift announced this just before she played “The crowd singing back so loudly during Dear John! So iconic 🥹 #TSTheErasTour via @swiftie4life27 pic.twitter.com/6awIgHA6r0
— Taylor Swift Updates (@SwiftNYC) June 25, 2023?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dear John” live for the first time in over a decade.
As we previously reported, the Speak Now track is thought to have been written about her ex, John Mayer. The two musicians were linked for just a few months, from November 2009 to February 2010. Swift was 19 at the time, while Mayer was 32.
“So, 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. Right?” Swift said, after pointing out how her fans hand out friendship bracelets during her tour. In response to her words, the crowd roared in agreement. “So what I’m trying to say is, I’m putting this album out because I want to own my music, and I believe that those who have the desire to own their music should be able to. That’s why I’m putting out this album.”
Swift Has Moved On
She continued, “I’m 33 years old. I don’t care about anything that happened to me when I was 19 — except the songs that I wrote. So what I’m trying to tell you is that I am not putting this album out so that you should feel the need to defend me on the internet against someone you think I wrote a song about 14 million years ago.”
In May, Swift announced that Speak Now was the next album of hers that she is re-recording. She wrote at the time: “The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness. I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing… and living to speak about it. With six extra songs I’ve sprung loose from the vault, I absolutely cannot wait to celebrate Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) with you on July 7th.” The artist also teased that the upcoming album is the “best thing that’s ever been mine.”
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.
