Taylor Swift issues plea to fans before performing Dear John ahead of Speak Now re-release

Taylor Swift has one thing to say to fans eager to diss John Mayer: You need to calm down.

At her concert in Minneapolis June 24, she performed the breakup song "Dear John," widely believed to be about the fellow musician, for the first time in more than a decade and issued a plea ahead of the July 7 release of her re-recorded "Taylor's Version" of her 2010 album Speak Now, which contains the track.

After touting the friendships forged by fans during her Eras tour Swift said to the crowd as seen in a TikTok video, "I was hoping to ask you, that as we lead up to this album, I would love for that kindness and that gentleness to extend onto our internet activities. Right?"

Swift, who has in recent years worked to re-record new versions of her first six albums after her former label Big Machine sold the master recordings of her catalog, clarified the reason she is releasing Speak Now (Taylor's Version), saying, "I want to own my music and I believe that [those] who have the desire to own their music should be able to."

She continued, "I'm 33 years old. I don't care about anything that happened to me when I was 19 except for songs I wrote and the memories that we made together."

The singer concluded, "What I'm trying to tell you, is that I am not putting this album out so that you can go and should feel the need to defend me on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about 14 million years ago. I do not care. We have all grown up. We're good."