John Mayer Once Compared Ex-Girlfriend Taylor Swift to Stevie Nicks
Taylor Swift and John Mayer famously dated between 2009 and 2010, and they have since made several comments (and songs) about their ill-fated relationship. Before they broke up, Mayer compared Swift to Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks. Here’s what the guitarist said about his ex-girlfriend’s talent and work ethic.
John Mayer once compared his ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift to Fleetwood Mac star Stevie Nicks
Taylor Swift and John Mayer briefly dated between 2009 and 2010 after collaborating on the song “Half of My Heart.” In March 2009, Mayer posted a since-deleted tweet comparing Swift to Fleetwood Mac singer and songwriter Stevie Nicks.
“Waking up to this song idea that won’t leave my head. 3 days straight now. That means it’s good enough to finish,” the guitarist wrote (per The Boot). “It’s called ‘Half of My Heart’ and I want to sing it with Taylor Swift. She would make a killer [Stevie] ‘Nicks’ in contrast to my ‘Tom [Petty]’ of a song.”
Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty collaborated on the 1981 hit song “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” from the Fleetwood Mac star’s debut solo album, Bella Donna. Although Nicks and Petty never dated, they had a very close friendship that occasionally crossed the line of being platonic.
John Mayer praised Taylor Swift’s work ethic during their ‘Half of My Heart’ collaboration
In a 2009 iTunes Exclusive Interview, John Mayer opened up about how he approached Taylor Swift to record “Half of My Heart” with him.
“I think I messaged [Taylor Swift] on Twitter. I think I said – I sent her a direct message saying, I have this song, I think you’re the one for it. And I don’t normally do that,” Mayer shared. “It took me four records to get to a song where I said, ‘Wow, this can really mean something’ – or maybe it took someone like Taylor coming around to really make that an organic process instead of an arranged marriage of a duo.”
He raised Swift’s work ethic by calling her “a tank.” “And so I called out to her and she agreed to do it, came into the studio. One of the best work ethics I’ve ever seen on somebody,” Mayer said. “Some people you get two or three tries of asking them to do it again before they disengage. She was a tank. I got to a point of comfort with her, I went, ‘Wow this girl is gonna stay. This girl’s gonna stay till it’s done!’ Which is the greatest, and sadly the rarest, thing when you’re getting people racing the martini. You know, you can feel someone’s just trying to get out.”
The guitarist said he didn’t have to ‘coddle’ the singer
John Mayer said he didn’t have to “coddle” Taylor Swift while recording the song “Half of My Heart.” They reached a comfort level where he could be blunt with her and tell her to try again and again.
“I just remember going like, at some point being comfortable enough with her to say, ‘Do it again,’ instead of, ‘That’s good, that’s good, no it’s good.’ Without having to coddle,” he described. “She sort of just made it clear through her behavior like, ‘Let’s just get this thing, however long it takes, you got me.’ And that of course opened up the experience into being great.”
Mayer said the collaboration taught him not to “micromanage” everything. “I’m learning in my career now when you let there be an experience, when you let something go its own way and flow, you get tenfold back instead of micromanaging everything,” he said.
