He just can't help but open up. This time around, John Mayer is talking Taylor Swift, Kanye West, and how he knows he'll never be as famous as them. You can say that again. No offense, Mayer, but between T. Swift's fans and West's award show outbursts, anyone would have a hard time keeping up with their celeb status. With that said, remember how Mayer said he is a "recovered ego addict"? Well, his recent declarations might just prove that. In additional released segments of his interview with Ronan Farrow for MSNBC, Mayer said,
Nothing bothers me anymore. There are going to be times when I make music as popular or as empirically valuable as [Taylor Swift's] in terms of making pop music that won't sell as many copies. I'm fine with that. You get to an age where you say, "Look, if I save a baby from a burning building and Kanye saves a baby from a burning building, there's more Google news hits on Kanye. I'm fine with it." Now, together — and this is what I'm trying to tell you — we're unstoppable.
As for Swift, Mayer said he wants to talk about her "professionally," and not focus on the gossip, like that time the two reportedly dated. He even opened up about his song "Paper Dolls" that was reportedly about T. Swift. Mayer said, "All we're talking about is being honest with yourself and what to ask for in this life. 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."
He added,
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. Let's just... 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. It's really about the longevity of all the work that goes together, and I'm just not interested in the things that won't last forever.
I can't blame Mayer for not wanting to focus on petty gossip or news that really doesn't matter. Part of his life is his music, whether he's topping the charts or not. It's true: he is more than a relationship with a fellow artist or that one song that might or might not be about a musician people can't help but talk about. Some might still see Mayer as someone with a big ego, but at least he can admit that his level of famous has decreased and will probably never reach T. Swift and West's. Plus, it doesn't seem to bother him, so I give him props for that.
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