John Mayer Shared Some New Thoughts About His Song “Paper Doll,” Which Was Rumored To Be About Taylor Swift
Back in 2013, John Mayer released a song called “Paper Doll,” which was widely thought to be a subtle retaliation to Taylor Swift’s 2010 “Dear John”– a diss track assumed to be about his manipulation tactics. The two dated back in 2009 when John was 32, and Taylor was 19, and since John is still a big, bulky bag of bright red flags even now that he’s 45 and “doesn’t really date anymore,” it’s no surprise that their brief dalliance was a mess. But according to E! News, during one of John’s performances the other night, he prefaced the song by admitting that it was probably a bitchy move.
If you need a lyric refresher, basically, Taylor talked about wearing dresses and running away from (allegedly) John’s old ass in “Dear John.” Some of the guitar riffs are also very reminiscent of his normal schtick. Shots fired.
Taylor belts on her track, “And you’ll add my name to your long list of traitors who don’t understand / And I’ll look back and regret how I ignored when they said ‘run as fast as you can.'”
And John condescendingly refers to (allegedly) Taylor as a “little paper doll” who didn’t even know what she was running from. He also mentions dresses. Shots returned.
“‘Cause you’re like 22 girls in one / And none of them know what they’re runnin’ from,” John sings in the chorus of “Paper Doll.”
Yes, John did post this “Paper Doll” lyric Prancersize video to his own YouTube account. Such a jokester:
So when John performed over the weekend, he introduced the song by talking about how he normally doesn’t like to do “bitchy” or “pissed off” in his songs, but this song comes off that way. Well, sure, because he doesn’t need to do bitchy in his songs. As his exes Jessica “Sexual Napalm” Simpson and Jennifer Aniston could attest, he’d rather just be bitchy in on-the-record interviews!
The singer revisted his 2013 track “Paper Doll” during an April 8 concert at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif.
As seen in a video circulating on social media, John mused as he strummed the opening chords on his guitar, “I wonder if people don’t like it because it sounds a little pissed off.”
“I don’t really like ‘pissed off’ as a song,” he continued, before admitting “there’s something about it that’s a little bitchy.”
While the 45-year-old tries “not to give bitchiness” in his music, he acknowledged that it “happens sometimes” and called out the song for what he described as “sarcastic bitch” vibes.
John added, “I guess it is sort a little bit bleh.”
Here’s that:
@covidcovers John Mayer reflecting on his Paper Doll lyrics #johnmayer #johnmayersolotour #taylorswift #couldveshouldvewouldve #dearjohn #paperdoll
John clearly never learns his lesson. Every time Taylor re-releases an album where “Dear John” makes an appearance or dares to make a song with the word “innocence” or some shit in it listed as track #19, the Swifties come through with threats to rip his smug face off; so stoking the fires yet again isn’t the smartest move. Taylor’s currently on tour, single, and dropping Easter eggs left and right, so next time John’s on stage making his signature painful bowel movement looking grimaces, someone check to make sure it’s just because he’s playing guitar and not because some deranged Swiftie decided to pull some “Vigilante Shit” on her behalf!
Pics: Freddy Baez/INSTARimages.com, Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images