Fans think Taylor Swift is revisiting her 2009 romance with John Mayer in her newly released album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”
In the song “The Manuscript” –– which is the last track on the bonus version, “The Anthology” –– Swift sings about two people in a relationship with a significant age gap.
“In the age of him, she wished she was thirty / And made coffee every morning in a Frеnch press / Afterwards she only atе kids’ cereal / And couldn’t sleep unless it was in her mother’s bed,” she sings.
“In the age of him, she wished she was thirty,” she sings in the song released Friday. BETH GARRABRANT “The Manuscript” is the last song on Swift’s bonus version, “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.” APExplore More
As fans know, Swift notably dated Mayer when she was 19 and he was 32 between 2009 and 2010.
The Grammy winner, now 34, continues to sing that she went on to date “boys who were her own age.”
Following her break up with Mayer, Swift dated Jake Gyllenhaal –– who is also much older than her –– before moving on to Harry Styles and Conor Kennedy, who are closer to her age.
The singers dated when he was 32 and she was 19. Kevin Mazur “She thought about how he said since she was so wise beyond her years,” she sings. Getty ImagesSwift again alludes to the age gap in the song with the lyrics, “He said that if the sex was half as good as the conversation was / Soon they’d be pushin’ strollers / But soon it was over.”
“She thought about how he said since she was so wise beyond her years / Everything had been above board / She wasn’t sure.”
Swift ends the song reflectively and notes that “Lookin’ backwards / Might be the only way to move forward” and later, “And at last / She knew what the agony had been for.”
However, some fans think Swift was singing about Jake Gyllenhaal –– whom she dated right after Mayer. Getty Images Fans quickly started talking about the final track on Twitter on Friday. Jemal CountessAfter the highly anticipated double album dropped Friday, fans took to Twitter to share their theories about “The Manuscript” and Mayer, now 46.
“the manuscript……..john mayer you will never live this down,” one fan tweeted.
“the manuscript being about John Mayer was not on my 2024 bingo card,” another user wrote.
“not The Manuscript being one final f–k you to John Mayer,” one person wrote. Beth Garrabrant The Grammy winner has yet to confirm or deny any theories. BETH GARRABRANT“not The Manuscript being one final f–k you to John Mayer,” one X user bluntly put it.
“She really said f–k you John Mayer and Jake Gyllenhaal with The Manuscript,” another fan tweeted.
Despite keeping the subjects of her songs under wraps, fans have been able to figure them out.
Fans figured out that Swift wrote “Dear John” and “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” about Mayer. Dimitrios Kambouris “Don’t you think nineteen’s too young / To be played by your dark, twisted games when I loved you so?” she sings in “Dear John.” Getty ImagesIn 2010, Swift seemed to sing about Mayer for the first time in the song “Dear John” on her album “Speak Now.”
“Don’t you think nineteen’s too young / To be played by your dark, twisted games when I loved you so?” she sang.
Swifties want to know
Over a decade later, Swift appeared to revisit her failed relationship with Mayer in the song “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” on her “Midnights” album released in 2022.
“Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve / If you’d never looked my way / I would’ve stayed on my knees / And I damn sure never would’ve danced with the devil / At nineteen,” she sang.
Fans have also theorized that Swift wrote about her age gap with Gyllenhaal in the 10-minute version of her song “All Too Well.” Corbis via Getty Images Swift released sons on “The Tortured Poets Department” which took aim at Joe Alwyn, Matty Healy and Kim Kardashian. APMeanwhile, Swift’s 10-minute version of her song “All Too Well” seemed to be about her relationship with Gyllenhaal, now 43, when she sang, “You, who charmed my dad with self-effacing jokes / Sippin’ coffee like you’re on a late-night show / But then he watched me watch the front door all night, willing you to come / And he said, ‘It’s supposed to be fun turning twenty-one.'”
Despite the obvious clues, Swift has yet to confirm or deny that any of the above songs are about Mayer or Gyllenhaal.
Elsewhere on the chart-topping album, Swift appears to shade her breakups with Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy, while also calling out her longtime feud with Kim Kardashian.
