John Mayer Reflects On 'Paper Doll' Lyrics, His 2013 Song Rumored To Be About Ex Taylor Swift

Ten years after slamming Taylor Swift  for dumping and humiliating him through his “Dear John song” in 2010, John Mayer told fans at a concert recently that his apparent response track came from a place of hurt.

2009 was a great time to be alive as John and Taylor were romantically involved and unapologetic about it. The two had an age difference of 13 years, but it wasn't going to stop them. Taylor was 19 years old, while John was 32 years old at the time. 

In February 2010, the lovebirds couldn't nest together as the pair split. A few months into it, Taylor confirmed breakup rumors by releasing a song titled “Dear John” on her third studio album tagged “Speak Now.”

Aside from the fact that artists draw inspiration from life happening around them, the song talked about her life, her age, and her disposition toward the relationship.

“Dear John, I see it all, now it was wrong / Don't you think 19 is too young / To be played by your dark twisted games, when I loved you so? / I should've known.”

Chorus: "Dear John, I see it all now that you’re gone. Don't you think I was too young to be messed with? The girl in the dress cried the whole way home…"

A couple of years later, John criticized the song publicly telling Rolling Stone that it shamed him and made him feel terrible.

According to John, Taylor's attempt at expressing her breakup in songs was a lousy thing to do. “I never got an email. I never got a phone call. I was really caught off guard.”

I will say as a songwriter that I think it’s kind of cheap songwriting,” he continued. “I know she’s the biggest thing in the world, and I’m not trying to sink anybody’s ship, but I think it’s abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, ‘Wait till he gets a load of this!’ That’s bullsh*t.”

A year later, after John gave his 1 cent about Taylor’s way of going through heartbreak, John ostensibly retaliated at Taylor Swift by releasing a diss track of his own titled “Paper Doll” which was the lead single of his sixth studio album, “Paradise Valley.”

John Mayer’s song was interpreted to be about his relationship with Taylor as it covers a lot of responses to questions asked in “Dear John" lyrics.

For instance, in Taylor Swift’s song, she wrote, “you paint me a blue sky then go back and turn it to rain.” And in “Paper Doll,” John sings, “and if those angel wings don’t fly, someone’s going to paint you another sky.” Taylor Swift also said in Dear John that, “And I look back in regret at how I ignored them when they said / ‘Run as fast as you can.” John responded to this allegation in the Paper Doll song saying “You’re like 22 girls in one / And none of them know what they’re running from” — which is also an apparent reference to her hit song “22.”

In light of what he said about Taylor’s songs in the past calling the lyrics “cheap” and also because he is the older one, fans have long condemned him for singing Paper Doll and advised him to be the bigger person and apologize.

Till today, John still expresses regret over recording the track. Reminiscing in a concert in Sacramento on April 8, John revealed that he sounded a “bit pissed off” in the song.

[Chorus]

You’re like twenty-two girls in one/ And none of them know what they’re running from/ Was it just too far to fall/ For a little paper doll.

John wonders why his fans and listeners don't like his diss track because he sounds a little pissed off. He says in a video as he strums the song's intro on his guitar. 

“I don’t really like ‘pissed off,’”  John revealed, and also added that “hurt” was a more suitable terminology to depict where the song came from. However, John then admitted that “there’s something about it that’s a little b*tchy.”

John says he doesn't like to throw b*tchiness around in his songs but it can sometimes happen, and went on to describe the track vibe as a “sarcastic b*tch.”

Some fans feel John is taking the matter too lightly, unlike Taylor Swift who addressed the relationship again in her 2022 song.