Taylor Swift's reputation came out on November 10, 2017. And if, in the year since, you've been wondering what John Mayer thinks of it...first of all, why? But a quick reminder that he's very into people talking about reputations. Or, to put a finer point on it, Mayer is into people reconsidering his reputation.
At a performance for iHeartRadio LIVE in Burbank, CA, Mayer was answering a question about how his song "New Light" came to be. After explaining how he got started on the production with producer No I.D. (Kanye West, Common), Mayer said, "And then I started thinking about reputation...," which caused a Swiftie in the audience to let out a nice, loud "WOOOO!" Never one to miss a musical reference, or a chance to talk about an ex, Mayer broke momentarily to say, "Not the album, but it's still fine. It's a fine piece of work."
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That's a lukewarm review if ever a review has been uttered, but in the words of Mayer...fine. Is anyone surprised that he was, in actuality, talking about his own reputation?
Mayer continued, lamenting how difficult it can be to undo damage done to one's reputation, saying that if one of his haters were trapped in an elevator with him for 30 minutes, they surely would come out thinking, "That was nothing like I thought it would be."
Naturally, in Mayer's imagination, the person he gets trapped in an elevator with is a woman. Men of the world, he's not worried that you think he's a cad. Women of the world, he is probably worried you won't date him after years of talking about his exes in the media.
Mayer's reputation worries are quite the opposite of Swift's reputation, in which she comes to terms with not giving a damn about her (so bad it feels good) reputation. A gentle recommendation to Mayer: Give reputation a few more listens and see if there aren't some life lessons in it for your next elevator conversation.