Swifties have a great weekend ahead of them with the arrival of Speak Now (Taylor's Version), but a cryptic message shared by John Mayer hints that he might be anticipating a tough time.
Swift re-released her third studio album yesterday (7 July), continuing her efforts to keep hold of her songs after losing ownership of the original recordings to a contract with Big Machine Records.
Speak Now features popular songs like 'Mine' and 'The Story Of Us', as well as the ballad 'Dear John', which tells the story of a girl who only came to recognise a guy's red flags after they broke up.
Advert
Shortly before the album's re-release, Swift surprised fans by performing 'Dear John' live for the first time since 2012 during a gig at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
The surprise addition to the setlist got fans even more excited for the arrival of Speak Now (Taylor's Version), and its re-release has brought the song back to the forefront of speculation.
When 'Dear John' first dropped in 2010, rumours began to circulate that it's about a relationship Swift had with fellow musician, John Mayer.
Advert
The pair had a brief romance when Swift was 19 and Mayer was 32, during which time they collaborated on music together.
Swift and Mayer released the track 'Half of My Heart' in June 2009, and even performed together during Swift's Fearless tour before splitting at some point in 2010 - the same year 'Dear John' was released.
So with the belief that 'Dear John' is about Mayer well and truly planted in people's minds, Mayer looked to get ahead of any backlash he might face from Swifties with a message he shared to fans just hours before the release of Speak Now (Taylor's Version).
Advert
The musician took to Instagram to share a series of photos from his recent shows in Colorado, including one which featured drones spelling out the words 'please be kind'.
Fans were quick to guess what the message might be referring to, with one commenting: "Not John Mayer post about 'please be kind' at the time Taylor Swift re~release 'Dear John' ... Ps : for real swifties please chill."
Mayer didn't directly acknowledge the re-release of 'Dear John', but he's not the only one who seemed to anticipate some backlash towards him as the song came back into the spotlight.
Advert
Even Swift, before performing the track in Minneapolis, urged people to extend 'kindness and gentleness…to our internet activities', presumably in relation to any messages directed towards Mayer.
Another of Swift's ex's, Taylor Lautner, also appeared to joke that Mayer would come under fire as a result of the re-release, saying: "I think it's a great album. Yeah, I feel safe. Praying for John."
Hopefully the calls for kindness will sink in!
Topics: Music, Taylor Swift, Celebrity, Sex and Relationships
Emily Brown