Taylor Swift And John Mayer's Relationship Timeline - Us Weekly

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Taylor Swift is notorious for dropping hints about her famous exes in the lines of her songs — and John Mayer easily picked up on the clues.

The songwriters were linked in 2009 and 2010 after collaborating on Mayer’s single “Half of My Heart.” At the time, Swift told Elle that she’d “been such a big fan of John for such a long time” and was “really excited” about teaming up with the critically acclaimed artist.

Their duet was part of Mayer’s 2009 record, Battle Studies. By the following year, however, things appeared to turn sour.

In 2010, Swift penned “Dear John,” a not-so-subtle breakup anthem detailing a romance with an older man. (When they were rumored to be dating, the Pennsylvania native was 19 and Mayer was 32.)

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Two years later, Mayer admitted that he felt “humiliated” by the song’s lyrics in an interview with Rolling Stone, calling it “cheap songwriting” for Swift to reference an ex.

Swift, for her part, doesn’t particularly care how her music makes her former flames feel. While promoting Red (Taylor’s Version) in November 2021, she told Seth Meyers, “I haven’t thought about their experience, to be honest.”

Scroll down for a look back at the musicians’ messy history:

Credit: Getty Images(2)

Taylor Swift and John Mayer's Relationship Timeline: From Collaborations to Breakup Anthems

Taylor Swift is notorious for dropping hints about her famous exes in the lines of her songs — and John Mayer easily picked up on the clues. The songwriters were linked in 2009 and 2010 after collaborating on Mayer's single "Half of My Heart." At the time, Swift told Elle that she'd "been such a big fan of John for such a long time" and was "really excited" about teaming up with the critically acclaimed artist. Their duet was part of Mayer's 2009 record, Battle Studies. By the following year, however, things appeared to turn sour. In 2010, Swift penned "Dear John," a not-so-subtle breakup anthem detailing a romance with an older man. (When they were rumored to be dating, the Pennsylvania native was 19 and Mayer was 32.) Two years later, Mayer admitted that he felt “humiliated” by the song’s lyrics in an interview with Rolling Stone, calling it “cheap songwriting” for Swift to reference an ex. Swift, for her part, doesn't particularly care how her music makes her former flames feel. While promoting Red (Taylor's Version) in November 2021, she told Seth Meyers, "I haven’t thought about their experience, to be honest." Scroll down for a look back at the musicians' messy history:

Credit: Getty Images(2)

Taylor Swift and John Mayer's Relationship Timeline: From Collaborations to Breakup Anthems

Taylor Swift is notorious for dropping hints about her famous exes in the lines of her songs — and John Mayer easily picked up on the clues. The songwriters were linked in 2009 and 2010 after collaborating on Mayer's single "Half of My Heart." At the time, Swift told Elle that she'd "been such a big fan of John for such a long time" and was "really excited" about teaming up with the critically acclaimed artist. Their duet was part of Mayer's 2009 record, Battle Studies. By the following year, however, things appeared to turn sour. In 2010, Swift penned "Dear John," a not-so-subtle breakup anthem detailing a romance with an older man. (When they were rumored to be dating, the Pennsylvania native was 19 and Mayer was 32.) Two years later, Mayer admitted that he felt “humiliated” by the song’s lyrics in an interview with Rolling Stone, calling it “cheap songwriting” for Swift to reference an ex. Swift, for her part, doesn't particularly care how her music makes her former flames feel. While promoting Red (Taylor's Version) in November 2021, she told Seth Meyers, "I haven’t thought about their experience, to be honest." Scroll down for a look back at the musicians' messy history:

Credit: Shutterstock (2)

March 2009

The "Perfectly Lonely" crooner compared Swift to songwriting icon Stevie Nicks, tweeting, "Waking up to this song idea that won't leave my head. 3 days straight now. That means it's good enough to finish. t's called Half of My Heart and I want to sing it with Taylor Swift. She would make a killer Stevie Nicks in contrast to my Tom Petty of a song."

At the time, the Miss Americana star told Elle that she "freaked out" when she saw the post. "I'm really excited about just the idea that he would even mention me in his Twitter!" she said, calling herself a "big fan" of Mayer.

Credit: Alex Berliner/BEI/Shutterstock

June 2009

Their collaboration, "Half of My Heart," was featured on Mayer's Grammy-nominated fourth record, Battle Studies.

Credit: Amanda Schwab/Starpix/Shutterstock

December 2009

When they performed their duet at Z100's Jingle Ball in New York City, fans were quick to suspect that a romance was brewing.

Credit: Shutterstock (2)

February 2010

After enjoying a two-hour dinner at Nashville Bistro Cabana one month prior, the pair's rumored flame fizzled out.

Credit: Amanda Schwab/Starpix/Shutterstock

June 2010

Though it was months after they called it quits, the musicians had a cordial moment at the 41st annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Ceremony. Mayer presented his ex with an award, gushing, "You could put her in a time machine in any era and she would have a hit record. Don't confuse everybody loving one thing as hype. Sometimes that's everyone agreeing that it's fabulous."

Credit: Amanda Schwab/Starpix/Shutterstock

October 2010

When her album Speak Now was released, the lyrics on "Dear John" stood out to Swift's fans. "Dear John, I see it all, now it was wrong / Don't you think 19 is too young / To be played by your dark twisted games, when I loved you so? / I should've known," she sings.

Elsewhere in the song, she calls the John in question "an expert at sorry and keeping the lines blurry."

Credit: Mediapunch/Shutterstock

June 2012

The "Say" artist slammed Swift's "cheap songwriting," telling Rolling Stone that he didn't appreciate being the subject of her verses. "It made me feel terrible. It was a really lousy thing to do," he said. "I never got an email. I never got a phone call. I was really caught off guard. ... [That's] abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, 'Wait 'til he gets a load of this!' That's bulls–t."

Credit: Amy Harris/Shutterstock

June 2013

Mayer seemingly came back with a diss track of his own in the form of "Paper Doll" from his record Paradise Valley. As listeners collected clues pointing toward the Cats actress being the titular doll — and the ex he sings about being "22 girls in one" — he joined the conversation.

"Yeah, songwriters write songs because of people, about people," Mayer said during an interview on Today. "Anything someone else wrote is their reception of a song. I don't get involved with [it]. It's none of my business."

Credit: Invision/AP/Shutterstock

December 2016

The Grammy winner found himself in hot water after tweeting, "Tuesday, December 13, may be the lamest day of the year, conceptually." When social media users detected shade — December 13 is Swift's birthday — he quickly cleared the air.

"NOPE. No. Nuh-uh," he wrote in a follow-up post. "People I am 39. I am deleting those tweets. Come right at me for doing so. Absolutely no shade."

Credit: Gary Day/Shutterstock

October 2018

Swift avoided the press during her Reputation era, but that didn't keep Mayer from weighing in on her work. He hosted a Q&A after performing at the iHeartRadio Theatre in California, telling fans that he "was thinking about reputation" when working on his song "New Light."

Mayer quipped at the time, "Not the album, but that's still fine. That's a fine piece of work."

Credit: Shutterstock (2)

November 2019

During an Instagram Live conversation with Shawn Mendes, who was featured on Swift's album Lover, the Connecticut native took issue with one of the title track's lyrics. "[It'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 continued: "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."

Credit: Shutterstock (2)

November 2021

Following the rerelease of 2012's Red — and with the new version of Speak Now on the horizon — Mayer responded to an angry DM from a Swift fan, which was later shared via TikTok. "F–k yourself you ugly bitch I hope you choke on something," the user wrote, to which Mayer replied, "I've been getting so many messages like these the past couple days. I'm not upset, I just tend to have a curious mind and feel compelled to ask. Do you really hope that I die?"

The fan later apologized and the singer noted in a voice message, "So it's a fun thing people are doing without taking into account that I might see it and be affected by it? It's 100 percent OK. Go forth and live happy and healthy!"

Credit: George Pimentel/Shutterstock; John Salangsang/Shutterstock

October 2022

When Swift dropped her 10th album, Midnights, she released seven bonus tracks on an extended version of the record. Fans were quick to assume "Would've, Could've, Should've" was about Mayer.

"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, before hinting, "I regret you all the time."

Credit: Getty Images(2)

July 2023

Upon the release of Swift’s rerecorded album, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version,) some Swifties speculated one of the record’s vault tracks, “Foolish One,” was written about Mayer.

“You give me just enough attention to keep my hopes too high / Wishful thoughts forget to mention when something’s really not right / And I will block out these voices of reason in my head,” Swift sings in the track’s opening verse. “And the voices say, ‘You are not the exception’ / ‘You will never learn your lesson.’”

She continues in the chorus: “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.”

Credit: Kevin Winter/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

April 2024

Swift released her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. While many songs were rumored to be about Swift’s past romances with Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy and her relationship with Travis Kelce, she seemingly pulled inspiration from her and Mayer’s past for the record’s closing track, “The Manuscript.”

Pointing out their age difference, Swing sings, “In the age of him, she wishes she was 30 / And made coffee every morning in a French press / Afterwards she only ate kids’ cereal / And couldn’t sleep unless it was in her mother’s bed.”

Other fans suspected the song’s closing line was a reference to “The Story of Us,” another of Swift’s breakup tracks reportedly about Mayer. “Now and then I reread the manuscript / But the story isn’t mine anymore,” the track concludes.

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