- Taylor Lautner was recently asked about the impending release of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).”
- “I think it’s a great album. Yeah, I feel safe,” he told Today. “Praying for John.”
- Lautner and John Mayer both dated Taylor Swift and reportedly inspired songs on the original album.
Taylor Lautner offered John Mayer his thoughts and prayers when asked about the impending release of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).”
“I think it’s a great album. Yeah, I feel safe,” he recently told Today. “Praying for John.”
Lautner doubled down by sharing a short clip on TikTok soundtracked to Taylor Swift’s “Dear John,” in which he gets on his knees and puts his hands together in silence. He added the hashtag “prayforjohn.”
Swift will unveil the rerecorded version of her third album on July 7. “Speak Now” was originally released in 2010 (when Swift was just 20 years old) and is renowned for being entirely self-written.
Swift dated both Lautner and Mayer in the year preceding “Speak Now,” and both men reportedly inspired songs on the original tracklist.
Lautner has confirmed that he was Swift’s muse for the album’s second single, “Back to December,” a breakup ballad that doubles as a heartfelt apology (“This is me swallowing my pride / Standing in front of you saying, ‘I’m sorry for that night'”).
Mayer also seemed to confirm that he inspired a “Speak Now” hit, albeit a much less flattering one.
On the album’s fifth track, “Dear John,” Swift eviscerates an older ex-boyfriend who played “dark, twisted games” with her heart (“Don’t you think I was too young to be messed with? / The girl in the dress cried the whole way home”).
In a 2012 interview with Rolling Stone, Mayer said he was “humiliated” by the song and criticized Swift for “cheap songwriting.”
The two musicians dated briefly in late 2009. He was 32 years old, while she was 19. When asked about Swift’s lyrics that reference their age gap, Mayer said, “I don’t want to go into that.”
For her part, Swift has never confirmed that “Dear John” is about Mayer and called him “presumptuous” for saying so.
In fact, Swift has made a point throughout her career to never confirm the real-life subjects of her songs — save for “Innocent,” another “Speak Now” cut, which she addressed to Kanye West in the aftermath of the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
However, Swift did describe “Speak Now” as a “roadmap” for each relationship that inspired her, admitting “everyone will know” who the songs are about.
“Everyone has had fair warning. This is my third album. I’ve never been shy or secretive with the fact that if you walk into my life, you may be walking onto a record,” she told The Wall Street Journal at the time.
