Taylor Swift Said She Was ‘Always Going to Love’ John Mayer Before Their Split

Taylor Swift and John Mayer dated briefly from late 2009 to early 2010. Their break up inspired songs and a great deal of fan speculation. Before they got together, though, Swift spoke often about her admiration of Mayer. In 2009, Swift said Mayer was someone she would always love.

Taylor Swift said she would always love John Mayer

Though Swift began her career as a country singer, she said she listened to many different genres. 

“I’m listening to everything,” she told Billboard in 2008. “I’m a country artist and I think country music is the best kind of music ever, but I’m not going to sit here and go, ‘Oh, I only listen to country music.’ I love Eminem, I love Kanye West as much as I love John Mayer and Coldplay and Maroon 5 and Boys Like Girls, and all these bands that are completely different, and the All-American Rejects. But then I’ll listen to Rascal Flatts and Kenny Chesney and George Strait.”

When asked about the influences fans could expect to hear on an upcoming album, Swift said Mayer was among them.

“I’m always going to love Keith Urban, I’m always going to love John Mayer,” she told Rolling Stone in 2009. “I’m always going to love people like that, who I feel are truly authentic, and that’s not to say that my music will ever sound like theirs, but I’m inspired by people who I feel know exactly who they are, and that inspires me to continue to figure out and inform who I am as an artist.”

Just months after she made these remarks, Swift and Mayer began dating.

They dated shortly after she made these comments

Mayer and Swift’s relationship began to develop when he tweeted at her about a collaboration.

“He Twittered the other day that he wrote a song and he wants to make it a duet with me,” she told Elle. “I freaked out when I heard, because I’ve been such a big fan of John for such a long time. I’m really excited about just the idea that he would even mention me in his Twitter!”

Fans began to speculate that Swift and Mayer were a couple. They only added fuel to rumors when they stepped out together in Nashville.

Taylor Swift and John Mayer’s relationship did not end well

Swift and Mayer’s relationship appeared to end in early 2010. She wrote the song “Dear John,” presumably about him, after their breakup. He was not happy about this. 

“It made me feel terrible,” he told Rolling Stone. “Because I didn’t deserve it. I’m pretty good at taking accountability now, and I never did anything to deserve that. It was a really lousy thing for her to do.”

While Swift did not directly say she wrote the song about Mayer, she said people should know based on the clues.

“I never got an e-mail. I never got a phone call,” he said, adding, “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?”

It’s unclear if Swift still loves Mayer’s music like she once said she always would.