Mayer on Swift, John Mayer praised Taylor Swift in his new MSNBC interview with Ronan Farrow, while also insisting he wanted to be known for more than the song he wrote believed to be about her.
As Gossip Cop reported, Mayer sat down with Farrow for an intimate chat about how he’s changed professionally and personally in the wake of a number controversial interviews, high-profile romances, and feuds. Farrow brought up Swift, wanting to get Mayer’s thoughts on her stance against Spotify and other streaming services that don’t adequately compensate artists.
Mayer said, “I think that’s cool. I think that’s really cool.” He explained, “Artists need the person with the loudest voice to speak for them… The cynical could say, ‘You’re helping yourself.’ But it’s trickle down. You’re not saying, ‘I want this just for me.’ I think that’s a really cool thing for a musician to do.”
Mayer went on to note that only Swift and a select few others are taken seriously. “Like two percent of the music industry has 80 percent of all the media [coverage],” he said. “There’s like four people, and if any of those four people say, ‘I want to speak for those people who would just never make this a story’ — The only reason we’re talking about Taylor Swift taking Spotify on is because she’s Taylor Swift, and that’s great.”
The musician insisted that he doesn’t care that Swift and others like Kanye West have more influence, saying, “Nothing bothers me anymore… There are going to be times when I make music as popular or as empirically valuable as that… that won’t sell as many copies. I’m fine with that.” To illustrate his point, Mayer said that if he and West were to both save babies from a burning building, the rapper would get “more Google News hits.”
Mayer then interestingly brought up the song that many believe he wrote about Swift in retaliation for her track “Dear John,” and pointed out how it got a crazy amount of attention. He told Farrow, “I put out a song called ‘Paper Doll.’ The song never got listened to as a song. It became a news story because of the lyrics. I’m not in the business of telling people what the song is about. I never said anything about it. And now I just go, ‘Look, I can say the name Taylor Swift. She’s an artist. I’m an artist. Everybody stop. Nobody’s got an incurable cancer. We’re rich people who get to live out our dreams. Let’s just stop it.'”
“I’m a musician who’s bigger than one song or one record,” Mayer went on. “So it’s really about the longevity of all the work that goes together. I’m just not interested in the things that won’t last forever.”
As Gossip Cop reported, Mayer sat down with Farrow for an intimate chat about how he’s changed professionally and personally in the wake of a number controversial interviews, high-profile romances, and feuds. Farrow brought up Swift, wanting to get Mayer’s thoughts on her stance against Spotify and other streaming services that don’t adequately compensate artists.
Mayer said, “I think that’s cool. I think that’s really cool.” He explained, “Artists need the person with the loudest voice to speak for them… The cynical could say, ‘You’re helping yourself.’ But it’s trickle down. You’re not saying, ‘I want this just for me.’ I think that’s a really cool thing for a musician to do.”
Mayer went on to note that only Swift and a select few others are taken seriously. “Like two percent of the music industry has 80 percent of all the media [coverage],” he said. “There’s like four people, and if any of those four people say, ‘I want to speak for those people who would just never make this a story’ — The only reason we’re talking about Taylor Swift taking Spotify on is because she’s Taylor Swift, and that’s great.”
The musician insisted that he doesn’t care that Swift and others like Kanye West have more influence, saying, “Nothing bothers me anymore… There are going to be times when I make music as popular or as empirically valuable as that… that won’t sell as many copies. I’m fine with that.” To illustrate his point, Mayer said that if he and West were to both save babies from a burning building, the rapper would get “more Google News hits.”
Mayer then interestingly brought up the song that many believe he wrote about Swift in retaliation for her track “Dear John,” and pointed out how it got a crazy amount of attention. He told Farrow, “I put out a song called ‘Paper Doll.’ The song never got listened to as a song. It became a news story because of the lyrics. I’m not in the business of telling people what the song is about. I never said anything about it. And now I just go, ‘Look, I can say the name Taylor Swift. She’s an artist. I’m an artist. Everybody stop. Nobody’s got an incurable cancer. We’re rich people who get to live out our dreams. Let’s just stop it.'”
“I’m a musician who’s bigger than one song or one record,” Mayer went on. “So it’s really about the longevity of all the work that goes together. I’m just not interested in the things that won’t last forever.”
