Taylor Lautner is cool as a cucumber ahead of Taylor Swift's Speak Now re-release, but he can't say the same for John Mayer. On July 7, Swift will drop Speak Now (Taylor's Version), a re-recording of the 2010 album that will feature six additional, unreleased songs. In a May 16 appearance on TODAY, Lautner — who briefly dated Swift in 2009 and is the subject of the album's single, "Back to December" — said he feels "safe" from any mentions on Swift's unreleased songs, but that John Mayer, Swift's other, more controversial ex-boyfriend from the Speak Now era, isn't in the clear.
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"I think it's a great album," Lautner told TODAY, adding that he's not anticipating being name-dropped on Swift's new music. "Yeah, I feel safe."
At the height of the Twilight craze, Lautner (who played hunky werewolf Jacob Black in the blockbuster film saga) and Swift dated for a few months in 2009 after meeting on the set of the romantic epic Valentine's Day. Their amicable split was the material for Swift's "Back to December" single, a breakup anthem that doubles as a love song. No hard feelings here — unlike "Dear John," Swift's scathing, no-love-lost single aimed at John Mayer, whom the singer dated for a few months between 2009 and 2010.
"Praying for John," Lautner giggled about the re-release. In every joke, a grain of truth. Given the ferocity of Swift's lyrics directed toward the "Gravity" crooner at the time, it's safe to assume one of six unreleased tracks might tread similar ground. "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?" Swift sings on the track. At the time of their relationship, Swift was 19 and Mayer was 32 years old.
John Mayer and Taylor Swift perform together in 2009. (Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
In the years since the song's release, Mayer has spoken openly about how "humiliated" he felt to be mentioned, adding that the takedown wasn't warranted:
"It made me feel terrible because I didn't deserve it," Mayer told Rolling Stone in a 2012 interview. "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." Oof.
As for Lautner, he has nothing but kind words for his one-time paramour. Heck, even the actor's wife, Taylor Dome, is a Swiftie. The husband-and-wife duo host a podcast called The Squeeze, a mental health-focused chat show where Lautner has previously spoken about his harrowing, confusing experience onstage at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, where Kanye West infamously crashed Swift's acceptance speech for her Female Video of the Year win. Speak Now's "Innocent" is said to be inspired by West's actions. "I guess you really did it this time / Left yourself in your warpath / Lost your balance on a tightrope / Lost your mind tryin' to get it back," the lyrics go.
Is Speak Now low-key Swift's most beef-heavy album? Probably. Could Speak Now (Taylor's Version) throw some additional punches? Maybe. According to Swift, the album is about "growing up, flailing, flying and crashing... and living to speak about it."
"I first made Speak Now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20," Swift captioned her Instagram announcement of the much-anticipated re-release. "The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness. I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing... and living to speak about it. With six extra songs I've sprung loose from the vault, I absolutely cannot wait to celebrate Speak Now (Taylor's Version) with you on July 7th."
Speak Now (Taylor's Version) is now available for pre-order.
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