Taylor Swift Performs “Dear John” Live for First Time in 11 Years: Watch

The post Taylor Swift Performs “Dear John” Live for First Time in 11 Years: Watch appeared first on Consequence.

Ahead of the July 7th release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift performed the album track “Dear John” live for the first time in 11 years during her “The Eras Tour” show in Minneapolis on Saturday night.

Swift prefaced the performance — which was one of the night’s two surprise songs — by saying: “I am not putting this album out so you can go on the internet and defend me against someone you think I wrote a song about 14 million years ago… Extend your kindness to the internet and please do not go after anyone because you think I wrote a song about them a billion years ago.”

It’s been long surmised that “Dear John” is about John Mayer, who briefly dated Swift in 2009. The song was released the following year on Swift’s album, Speak Now.

In a 2012 interview with Rolling Stone, Mayer said he was “really humiliated” by the song. He added, “I never got an e-mail. I never got a phone call. I was really caught off-guard, and it really humiliated me at a time when I’d already been dressed down. I mean, how would you feel if, at the lowest you’ve ever been, someone kicked you even lower?” For her part, Swift has said it was “presumptuous” for Mayer to assume “Dear John” was about him.

Even so, Mayer still finds himself at the receiving end of negative comments from Swift fans. Following the re-release of Red in November 2021, Mayer posted an example of a death threat he had received. “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?” he asked the fan who subsequently apologized.

Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is due out on July 7th. Earlier this week, Swift confirmed new international dates for “The Eras Tour.”

Taylor Swift Performs “Dear John” Live for First Time in 11 Years: Watch
Scoop Harrison

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