Music
Taylor Swift writes songs about other celebrities — and sometimes, other celebrities write songs about her. There’s a rumor that John Mayer wrote a song that was critical of her.
Taylor Swift writes songs about other celebrities — and sometimes, other celebrities write songs about her. There’s a rumor that John Mayer wrote a song that was critical of the “Shake It Off” singer. Mayer himself offered some vulgar words about the track’s meaning.
A sarcastic John Mayer song was rumored to be about Taylor Swift
Mayer is a rock star from the 2000s most known for his hits “Waiting on the World to Change” and “Your Body Is a Wonderland.” The Independent reports that Mayer dated Swift from December 2009 to February 2010, when he was 31 and she was 19. Swift sang on Mayer’s song “Half of My Heart.”
Years after the breakup, he released a song called “Paper Doll” on his album Paradise Valley that inspired rumors it was about the “I Knew You Were Trouble” star. According to a 2023 Billboard article, Mayer said at a concert that “Paper Doll” was controversial. “I wonder if people don’t like it because it sounds a little pissed off,” he said. “I don’t really like ‘pissed off’ as a song. I think it was more [about] hurt.”
“Is there something about it that’s a little b****y?” he continued. “There might be. I try not to give b****iness in the songs, it happens sometimes. I guess I don’t do it very well — sarcastic b**** — but I didn’t really see it. I guess it is sort of a little bit like, ‘Meehhh.’”
John Mayer said the song is not about a certain someone
During a 2019 video on Instagram Live, Mayer said the rumor was false. “The person they thought it was about brought a certain amount of superficial pop culture back-and-forth about it,” he said. “But the song was not about that person, and I could never tell anybody that’s not true because then I would be breaking my rule that songwriters don’t say who their songs are about or not about.”
Why did fans think the track was about Swift? Swift is famous for writing songs about her boyfriends, many of whom have been well-known. They were assuming that Mayer might have done something similar. After all, numerous songwriters besides Swift have written songs about their exes.
On top of that, the woman in the song “Paper Doll” is portrayed negatively. It’s not surprising that Mayer would have criticisms of a former girlfriend. Beyond that, the song puts a particular focus on the dresses that a woman wears. Swift is known both for wearing beautiful dresses and for mentioning dresses in many of her songs. Who could forget the lines about Juliet’s wedding dress in “Love Story” and the “nice dress” from “Wildest Dreams?”
How John Mayer’s ‘Paper Doll’ performed
“Paper Doll” barely charted in the United States. It reached No. 77 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week. For context, Mayer has not had a top-40 single since the 2000s. In the 2010s and 2020s, he has less of a following among pop fans and more of a cult following. “Paper Doll” appeared on the album Paradise Valley. That record peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and lasted on the chart for 22 weeks.
Swift has had a lot of influence on songs by other people — but “Paper Doll” is not one of them.
