Is John Mayer’s New Single Another Jab at Taylor Swift?

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I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a huge John Mayer fan. I mean, I’m a heterosexual female with functional ear drums, so why wouldn’t I be?

I’ve seen the musical genius twice in concert in the past few years, and I know all of his songs by heart. I used to kiss my concert shirt ritually before—and after—taking it off because it had his beautiful face on it. Was I obsessed? Maybe. But hey, we all have skeletons in our closets.

When I found out that Mr. Mayer was dropping his latest single a few weeks ago, I just about lost my shit. I listened to it, and of course, I loved it. He could sing the words of the U.S. Constitution to me, and I would swoon. It’s a feel-good song with a very simple message, so it could easily function as a Top 100 hit. What’s sad is that this feature seems to be more strategic than anything.

What a bastard.

The song, titled “Love On the Weekend,” starts off with a really laid back guitar riff and some light drumming. It almost seems like a summer song (if that makes sense), so I’m wondering why Mayer and his team chose to release it in November where everyone wants to stay inside and eat their feelings—even on the weekends.

The more I listen to the song’s lyrics, the more I get a feeling for its overall vibe. To me, it sounds like something that Kenny Chesney could have released. It is, for lack of a better category, a country-pop song. As someone who gets a sort of bitter taste in my mouth every time a country song is played, this realization has me feeling a bit uneasy. To be fair, country music doesn’t even sound like country anymore. Music is evolving at such a rapid rate, it is hard to differentiate between the genres sometimes.

The country/folk-esque vibe isn’t new to Mayer’s repertoire. The last album he made, “Paradise Valley,” had a very tangible country twang to it. I think it would be fair to claim that he will be transitioning into the country-pop genre in his next album. AKA beckoning to what the masses want to hear. Meh.

The topic of the song is very easy to understand. Basically, he can’t wait to see his long-distance girl after working all week, and they take a drive to forget about everything that stresses them out and to catch up with each other’s lives. The song ends with the weekend being over and his misery of having to return to reality. And there are sexual overtones surrounding the entire song (go figure—it’s John Mayer), so they probably have sex in the car or something. I don’t know.

But again, all that’s really missing from “Love on the Weekend” is Mayer discussing his pick-up truck, her blue jeans and something about drinking copious amounts of Bud Light.

But going back to the genre switch-up, I’m about to get hella deep for a second, so buckle your seatbelt.

When you think about popular artists who have recently made the transition from country to pop, who comes to mind? I’ll give you a hint: Her name starts with a “T” and ends with -aylor Swift. If you can read, you guessed it! John Mayer’s ex-girlfriend T-Swizzle.

Other than her knack for listing scandalous details about her previous relationships into her lyrics and her awkward relationship with Kanye West, Taylor Swift is usually noted for breaking the barrier from innocent country star to pop star. And somehow, she totally pulls it off. Her fan base (like Mayer’s) is pretty strong, though, so she could probably release a rap album and 13-year-old white girls would be making lip dub videos of them on the internet.

God, do I sound like an unpleasant member of society.

When I was 11-years-old, I liked Taylor Swift, and my passions for John Mayer were still burning fairly strong. To find out they were dating felt like my best friend (Swift) betrayed me and stole my boyfriend behind my back (Mayer). There were some serious teardrops on my guitar that night. (I’m sorry, that was really bad.)

But can we also talk about how he was 31 and she was 19 at the time? I’m currently 19 and I still feel really weird about this. WHY DOESN’T ANYBODY TALK ABOUT THIS ANYMORE?!

Nevertheless, despite his perverted tendencies, once they broke up, I obviously took John’s side. After their breakup, Taylor Swift got over it with the only coping mechanism she seems to have: Songwriting. In her album, “Speak Now,” Swift released a song titled “Dear John.” Let’s think. Who do we know named “John” that dated Taylor Swift? I think I know!!!

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Mayer revealed that Swift’s song about him completely “humiliated him.” He also went on to say this about his star-studded ex, “I will say as a songwriter that I think it’s kind of cheap songwriting. 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 bullshit.”

But to be fair, turning frustrations and revenge into song and dance is what makes the magical world of music so special.

Taylor still wasn’t done humiliating John Mayer in 2012 when she released, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” Specifically, the lyric, “And you would hide away and find your peace of mind/With some indie record that’s much cooler than mine” gave Mayer away. This was most likely an intentional jab at “Born and Raised,” which was Mayer’s album released in the same year.

The following year, in 2013, Mayer released a new single titled, “Paper Doll.”  This song was later revealed to be about Swift. This also totally went against what he claimed in his interview, as he hypocritically opposed his own word. But we just won’t talk about that.

I think, in a sort of symbolic way, “Love On the Weekend” could be Mayer’s final jab at Swift. They are both successful artists, and he might just be trying to show her that she’s not the only one who can switch genres with such grace. So, ha!

I could totally be misreading this entire thing or even overthinking it, but John Mayer’s new song is still really sexy and fun, and I would listen to it over a T-Swizzle song any day.