Taylor Lautner has joked that he’s “praying” for John Mayer following the news that Taylor Swift has re-recorded her third studio album Speak Now.
Earlier this month, Swift announced that the “Taylor’s Version” of her 2010 album will be re-released in July, as part of her ongoing project to re-record her back catalogue, following a dispute over the master rights to her first six albums.
Speak Now features a number of songs said to be about her relationships at the time, including one reportedly about Lautner (“Back to December”) and one said to be about Mayer (“Dear John”).
Appearing on Today on Tuesday (16 May), Lautner was asked how he felt about the album being released again.
“I think it’s a great album,” he said. “Yeah, I feel safe.”
The Twilight star, however, joked that he was “praying for John”.
Swift and Mayer dated between late 2009 and 2010, when she was 19 and he was 32.
In “Dear John”, Swift sings: “Dear John, I see it all now it was wrong/ Don’t you think 19’s too young to be played by/ Your dark twisted games when I loved you so?”
Meanwhile, Swift and Lautner briefly dated in 2009 after meeting on the set of the romcom Valentine’s Day, in which they appeared as an enthusiastic couple at high school.
“Back to December”, the song believed to be about Lautner, sees Swift apologise to a former partner who treated her well throughout their relationship.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) will be released on 7 July and will feature six unheard tracks written by Swift at the time, when she was aged between 18 and 20.
Announcing the news, Swift said: “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.”
So far, Swift has put out “Taylor’s Versions” of her albums Fearless (2008) and Red (2012) in the past two years, as well as new albums including Folklore and Evermore (2020) and Midnights (2022). She is currently touring her Eras show in the US.
