Taylor Lautner Is ‘Praying’ For John Mayer Ahead of Taylor Swift’s ‘Speak Now’ Re-Release
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With each Taylor’s Version re-release, Taylor Swift revisits the vault of songs that were written for, but didn’t make, the first version of her records. With Speak Now‘s re-release arriving in July, those feelings (and unreleased songs) might find new life 13 years later.
On Tuesday, Taylor Lautner — one of Swift’s ex-boyfriends from the Speak Now era in 2009 — was asked about how he feels regarding Swift revisiting her music from that time.
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“I think it’s a great album,” he told Today.com about the record. In regards to the possibility of being the subject of unheard music, he said, “Yeah, I feel safe.”
For the record, “Back to December,” which Lautner confirmed was about their breakup years after Swift dropped it, is a pretty sweet breakup song.
The gag, though? Lautner joked that he’s “praying for John” ahead of the album’s re-release.
John, of course, refers to John Mayer, the other guy Swift dated in 2009. Mayer is the subject of “Dear John,” a much more scathing breakup track on the record. “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?” Swift sings on the track, which references their wide age gap. Ouch.
Mayer has been pretty open about his feelings on the song, telling Rolling Stone back in 2012 that he felt “really humiliated” by the release of the track, and name-dropping him was a “really lousy thing to do.”
“It made me feel terrible,” Mayer said then. “Because I didn’t deserve it. I’m pretty good at taking accountability now, and I never did anything to deserve that.”
Who knows? Perhaps Swift was holding onto some even more scathing lyrics about the Sob Rock crooner.
The Today.com interview with Lautner comes as he and his wife, Taylor Dome, promote their podcast The Squeeze. Dome, for her part, said earlier this year that Speak Now was “one of the best albums of all time, the lyrics are insane.”
Lautner and Swift have been friendly since their split. Lautner recently spoke about Swift during an episode of his and his wife’s podcast, addressing infamous VMAs moment when Kanye West interrupted Swift’s speech, after Lautner handed her an award.
It fills me with such pride and joy to announce that my version of Speak Now will be out July 7 (just in time for July 9th, iykyk 😆) I first made Speak Now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20. The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their… pic.twitter.com/oa0Vs5kszr
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) May 6, 2023
“I gave her the award. I took five steps back and was standing five feet behind her. In the middle of her giving her thank you speech, Kanye jumps up onto the stage,” he said. “I could barely hear it. I can’t see them. I’m just assuming this whole thing was a practiced and rehearsed skit because why else would Kanye West be jumping on the stage interrupting Taylor Swift? It just didn’t make sense.”
“If you look back at it, I’m actually caught laughing and, like, giggling at it. I’m like, ‘I can’t hear them, but this is probably really funny right now,’” Lautner added. “He jumped off. She finished. The second she turned back around and I saw her face for the first time, I was like, ‘Oh. No. …That wasn’t good.’”
Swift officially announced Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) during her slate of shows in Nashville earlier this year.
“I think rather than me speaking about it,” she teased as fans began to scream, “I thought I would just show you. So, if you would direct your attention to the back, big screen that we have.” Behind her, the screen read: “Speak Now. Taylor’s Version. Available July 7.” Fans immediately flooded social media to post screenshots and live footage of the big reveal.
Soon after, Swift tweeted, “I first made Speak Now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20. The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness.”
She added: “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.”
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