Taylor Swift urges fans to be kind to ex John Mayer ahead of Speak Now TV

Minneapolis, Minnesota - Taylor Swift may be revisiting her past through her re-recordings, but she isn't focusing on anything other than the music.

On Saturday, Taylor Swift (r) assured fans she doesn't need them to defend her from her exes ahead of her performance of Dear John, which will be re-released next month.
On Saturday, Taylor Swift (r) assured fans she doesn't need them to defend her from her exes ahead of her performance of Dear John, which will be re-released next month.  © Collage: Dimitrios Kambouris / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP & IMAGO / ZUMA Press

The 33-year-old treated fans at The Eras Tour in Minneapolis on Saturday to a surprise song that she hasn't played in over a decade with an acoustic rendition of Dear John.

The song was originally released on 2010's Speak Now and is set to be re-released on July 7 for Speak Now (Taylor's Version).

Dear John took inspiration from her relationship with then-32-year-old John Mayer when she was just 19. While many Swifties have bashed her exes after the release (or re-release) of her break-up songs about them, the Anti-Hero singer is stopping that in its tracks this time around.

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Before performing the song, Swift discussed re-recording the album and discouraged fans from criticizing the exes rumored to be at the focus of its songs.

"I'm putting this album out because I want to own my music, and I believe that any artist who has a desire to own their music should be able to. That's why I'm putting out this album," she said.

"I'm 33 years old. I don't care about anything that happened to me when I was 19 except the songs I wrote and the memories we made together. So what I'm trying to tell you is that I'm not putting this album out so that you should feel the need to defend me on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about."

Taylor Swift performs Dear John and Daylight as surprise songs in Minneapolis

As any Swiftie (or any pop culture fan, really) will recall, jokes bashing Jake Gyllenhaal, who is widely assumed to be the subject of All Too Well, went viral for weeks after the release of Red (Taylor's Version), and such jokes remain a common punchline within the fandom to this day.

Whether Swift wanted to emphasize the message because of what happened with Red or because of her concern over Mayer's reactions, specifically, is not clear, but either way, Swifties should certainly heed the message.

In true Tay fashion, the Grammy winner switched the vibe dramatically for her second surprise song of the evening as she continued to prove she's still in her Lover era by playing Daylight on the piano.

Cover photo: Collage: Dimitrios Kambouris / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP & IMAGO / ZUMA Press

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