A tale of two Taylor Swift exes: Taylor Lautner is sending best wishes to John Mayer in advance of the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).
Lautner jokingly acknowledged the content of Taylor Swift’s 2010 album in a recent interview with TODAY, saying he’s not afraid of the reaction to the re-record, but he is a little nervous for Mayer. “I think it’s a great album. Yeah, I feel safe,” Lautner said, then jokingly added he was “praying for John.” The sweet, regretful song Back to December is reportedly about Swift’s short-lived relationship with Lautner, while the infamous Dear John is about — you guessed it — Mayer.
The song is pretty clear about its subject matter. “Dear John, I see it all now that you’re gone. Don’t you think I was too young to be messed with?” Swift sings. “The girl in the dress cried the whole way home … I should’ve known.” In 2012, Mayer told Rolling Stone that he was “humiliated” by the song at the time. “I’m pretty good at taking accountability now, and I never did anything to deserve that,” he said. “It was a pretty lousy thing for her to do.”
ICYMI, the Swift and Mayer relationship, which occurred in 2010 when Swift was 19 and Mayer was in his early thirties, came under the microscope again with the release of Swift’s 10th studio album, Midnights, particularly the song Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve and its pointed, scorched earth lyrics that were likely aimed at Mayer. “If you tasted poison, you could’ve spit me out at the first chance. And if I was some paint, did it splatter on a promising grown man? And if I was a child, did it matter if you got to wash your hands?” Swift sings. In the chorus, she clearly references her age at the time, which led many fans to think it was a direct hit at Mayer. “And I d*mn sure never would’ve 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. “Memories feel like weapons. And now that I know, I wish you’d left me wondering.”
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) will be released on 7 July, so Mayer has a little time to prep for what’s coming. If it’s anything like Swift’s All Too Well 10-minute version with its references to her relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal, he may want to lay low for a bit. Lautner, though, seems to be doing just fine! Karma is real.
Article originally appeared in Teen Vogue.