Dear, John…
This weekend, John Mayer had special guest Shawn Mendes on his “Current Mood” Instagram Live series. And while they chatted about a few topics, the one with the most tea was obviously Taylor Swift.
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And sure, while some part of the Live may have been shade, we all know the situation is way deeper than some fans getting riled up at a joke. Let’s dive in.
So, John and Taylor used to date.
They got together in 2009. He was 30, she was 19. They dated for literally three months, but the drama persists.
After they broke up, Taylor wrote “Dear John,” which John was a little offended by.
The lyrics were pretty obvious.
The lyrics read, “Dear John, I see it all, now it was wrong
Don’t you think nineteen is too young
To be played by your dark twisted games, when I loved you so?”
Yeah, there’s no denying that one.
John was NOT a fan.
“I will say as a songwriter that I think it’s kind of cheap songwriting. I know she’s the biggest thing in the world, and I’m not trying to sink anybody’s ship, but I think it’s abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, ‘Wait till he gets a load of this!'” He said .
And now, for the Shawn Mendes side of things.
Shawn recently collaborated with Taylor on a remix of “Lover,” which was released on her album of the same name.
No big deal, right? Well, it accidentally became one, because…
Taylor basically burned part of the music industry to the ground this week.
She publicly called out Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun, who own the masters to her previously released music, for not letting her perform her own music at the upcoming American Music Awards.
They trapped her in one shady deal.
Listen, there’s a lot of “he said, she said” with the Taylor vs. Scooter debacle, so here’s the short version:
When Taylor was with Scott’s label, Big Machine, he basically said he would trade her the rights to one old album in exchange for her writing one new one with his label.
She was never given the option to buy back all of her masters.
AKA, Taylor would never own her own music.
Because she’d be writing new albums to acquire the old ones over and over again.
Taylor left Big Machine and her masters behind, even though those masters were clearly written and performed by her.
So, John Mayer and Shawn Mendes sure is an interesting combo.
Anyway, John made some (in his defense) comments that were clearly meant to be jokes about the lyrics to “Lover.”
“Love the song, I really like the song,” he started off.
Honestly, this joke is harmless.
“I get a little chuckle because she says, ‘We can keep the Christmas lights up ‘til January.’ And I go, ‘You’re insane. Everyone keeps their Christmas lights up until January.'”
However, it’s not really the problem here.
Perhaps some points got made.
I mean, if you were going to take his comments as the actual reason people are mad, this tweet would have made all the points.
However, as we know, the issue is bigger than lyrics.
Fans were very disappointed in them both.
Shawn (and John) have both refrained from commenting on Taylor’s battle with Scooter and Scott.
Other celebs like Halsey, Cher, Selena Gomez, and Shawn’s girlfriend, Camila Cabello, all came out in defense of Taylor.
Seriously, no man was left alive.
In case you don’t know, Shawn Mendes opened up for Taylor during her 1989 world tour.
Add in his recent collab with her, and fans are a little confused as to why he hasn’t said a thing.
RIP.
I’m sorry for laughing, but “be quiet while grown folks are talking” took me right out. I’m officially going to use that on someone now. It’s too good to just let go.
OOF.
And OOP! Fans are so done with John and Shawn, y’all. Not only is there no love lost for Shawn, there was none for John to begin with.
Never anger a Swiftie. That’s all I’ll say.
And now, in an interesting twist…
Taylor has been granted permission to perform her own music at the American Music Awards.
I’m going to go ahead and bet that her performance isn’t going to be one to miss.
