Swifties have had a rough go of it lately. After surviving (and serving lawsuits over) last year's Ticketmaster fiasco, Taylor Swift's breakup with longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn, the Matty Healy situation and the pop star skipping Canada on the Eras Tour, tensions have perhaps understandably remained high within the fanbase.
Now, as Swift prepares to release Speak Now (Taylor's Version) next week, fans are going to have to re-live the old drama of the original Speak Now era (the simpler time that was 2010) — and the singer-songwriter doesn't want any cyberbullying going on in her defence.
The plea is a thinly veiled reference to ex John Mayer, who is the subject of the album's scathing "Dear John," which she wrote about being played by his "dark, twisted games" when she was 19. (Another ex from that time period, Taylor Lautner, even posted a TikTok swiftly after the Speak Now TV announcement offering prayers for Mayer.) Swift performed the song for the first time since 2012 as the surprise song in her setlist for the Minneapolis stop of the Eras Tour last night (June 25) and introduced it with a plea for peace.
"I get to stand on this stage every single night of this tour and watch some of the most beautiful things happen," the artist said during her usual pre-surprise song speech [via A.V. Club], noting the Eras Tour tradition of fans trading friendship bracelets. "I see so many beautiful interactions happen, and I hear so many stories about friends that were made at these shows. I watch it happen, and it's the most unbelievable thing to watch."
She went on, "And so, I was hoping to ask you that as we lead up to this album coming out, I would love for that kindness and that gentleness to extend onto our internet activities. Right?" Swift said, once again stating the impetus of her re-recording project: "So what I'm trying to say is, I'm putting this album out because I want to own my music, and I believe that any artist who has the desire to own their music should be able to. That's why I'm putting out this album."
"I'm 33 years old," Swift emphasized, "I don't care about anything that happened to me when I was 19, except the songs I wrote and the memories we made together. So what I'm trying to tell you is that I'm not putting this album out so that you can go — and should feel the need to — defend me on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about 14 billion years ago."
Swifties are known to be particularly passionate; it's their hallmark. Hell, their negging may have convinced the pop star to end things with her rumoured dirtbag rebound. But she has seldom explicitly dissuaded the fandom from their militant takedowns — like when she released her last re-recording, Red (Taylor's Version), and the ruthless 10-minute "All Too Well" further decimated rumoured-inspiration, Jake Gyllenhaal, who needless to say, was memed into oblivion.
Swift didn't intervene when the poor Ginny & Georgia actor, forced to make a joke about her dating history, was subjected to racist hate comments, or deter any voracious threats against regular nemeses Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Scooter Braun, etc. But it's not as if the singer-songwriter can necessarily control the overwhelming online presence of her loyal army! Right?
Not defending any hate speech whatsoever, but it is kind of hard to see Mayer as overly sympathetic; the man likes to play guitar naked after sex.
Watch a clip of Swift's speech below.
Now, as Swift prepares to release Speak Now (Taylor's Version) next week, fans are going to have to re-live the old drama of the original Speak Now era (the simpler time that was 2010) — and the singer-songwriter doesn't want any cyberbullying going on in her defence.
The plea is a thinly veiled reference to ex John Mayer, who is the subject of the album's scathing "Dear John," which she wrote about being played by his "dark, twisted games" when she was 19. (Another ex from that time period, Taylor Lautner, even posted a TikTok swiftly after the Speak Now TV announcement offering prayers for Mayer.) Swift performed the song for the first time since 2012 as the surprise song in her setlist for the Minneapolis stop of the Eras Tour last night (June 25) and introduced it with a plea for peace.
"I get to stand on this stage every single night of this tour and watch some of the most beautiful things happen," the artist said during her usual pre-surprise song speech [via A.V. Club], noting the Eras Tour tradition of fans trading friendship bracelets. "I see so many beautiful interactions happen, and I hear so many stories about friends that were made at these shows. I watch it happen, and it's the most unbelievable thing to watch."
She went on, "And so, I was hoping to ask you that as we lead up to this album coming out, I would love for that kindness and that gentleness to extend onto our internet activities. Right?" Swift said, once again stating the impetus of her re-recording project: "So what I'm trying to say is, I'm putting this album out because I want to own my music, and I believe that any artist who has the desire to own their music should be able to. That's why I'm putting out this album."
"I'm 33 years old," Swift emphasized, "I don't care about anything that happened to me when I was 19, except the songs I wrote and the memories we made together. So what I'm trying to tell you is that I'm not putting this album out so that you can go — and should feel the need to — defend me on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about 14 billion years ago."
Swifties are known to be particularly passionate; it's their hallmark. Hell, their negging may have convinced the pop star to end things with her rumoured dirtbag rebound. But she has seldom explicitly dissuaded the fandom from their militant takedowns — like when she released her last re-recording, Red (Taylor's Version), and the ruthless 10-minute "All Too Well" further decimated rumoured-inspiration, Jake Gyllenhaal, who needless to say, was memed into oblivion.
Swift didn't intervene when the poor Ginny & Georgia actor, forced to make a joke about her dating history, was subjected to racist hate comments, or deter any voracious threats against regular nemeses Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Scooter Braun, etc. But it's not as if the singer-songwriter can necessarily control the overwhelming online presence of her loyal army! Right?
Not defending any hate speech whatsoever, but it is kind of hard to see Mayer as overly sympathetic; the man likes to play guitar naked after sex.
Watch a clip of Swift's speech below.