Taylor Swift and John Mayer: Yay or nay?

Country pop princess Taylor Swift came to Los Angeles this weekend, and brought with her a surprise guest in John Mayer. The clean-cut pop strummer joined Swift for a pair of tunes -- her own "White Horse" and his "Your Body Is a Wonderland."

The Times' August Brown was on the scene, and captured the pairing, noting that the country-meets-pop coupling didn't feel "particularly amiss," but quickly added that "Swift’s originals were much smarter" than the Mayer original.

He wasn't the only one who seemed less-than-wowed by the union. One commenter on our review raved about the show, but noted that it came with a slight downer. "The only criticism was John Mayer's intrusion," wrote a poster identified as Zim.

But Swift and Mayer may be a musical duo we'll be hearing more from.

Days before appearing with Swift at Staples Center, Mayer hinted on Twitter that the two were working together. He posted a picture of Swift and joked, "I couldn't get Taylor Swift on my record so I found the world's greatest impersonator, Laura Jacksheimer."

Followers of either artist will likely remember that it wasn't the first time Swift appeared in Mayer's Twitter feed. Earlier this year, Mayer noted that he had a song entitled "Half of My Heart" that he wanted Swift to duet on.

"She would make a killer 'Nicks' in contrast to my 'Petty' of a song," he wrote, in reference to Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks, who worked together on a pair of tunes.

If you weren't at Staples on Friday, plenty of clips of Mayer and Swift exist on YouTube. Granted, it's tough to hear the musicians over the onslaught of screaming fans, but it will give you an idea.

Do these two have a "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" in their future? Take a look and decide.

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[HippyHo]

John Mayer (beside being a talented guitarist, and a talented songwriter, although overrated in both fields by the entire Grammy committee if you ask me) is a marketing smart fella.
He knows to tie himself with the country pop princess of the moment will open to him an entire new young market, much how to have a dreadful and pretty fake if you ask me relationship with Jen Aniston helped him getting and mantaining the touch with the middle aged public field.
He's smart, I'd dare to say a strategist.
I don't think he counts at all on Swifts' all to be expressed talent (she's cute and she has things to say, but vocally she has so much tolearn, hasn't she?). He just wants to expand his reacheability to the audience. And this move is a secured work on it.
The duets from Staples, out from what I have heard around, were weary at best.
But still the move is gonna pay John out.
You're a witty devil, Mayer. And I guess you wanna also bed her down soon or later, won't you? Wait a couple years more, at least, let her live her "virginal" phase before she turns so Hollywood like...

[Jade]

I think some people read way into Mayer than they should. Witty yes, but everyhing he does isn't him trying to get a step ahead... He's already where he wants to be. Now he's just having fun thinking outside the box. Let the man live.

[Jen]

Run, Taylor, RUUUUUUUUUNNN!!!!!!!!!!

[David Lboogi]

Mayer has created a name for himself. He doesn't need a teen sensation to give him any more fame that he deserves. Seriously, the majority of the crowd was singing along with him. If he needed "reachability" I doubt that would have been so obvious. Lastly, who fathoms in their right mind that Mayer would "de-virginize" Swift. I mean the guy is 32 years old if not 33 with a respected reputation. You can try to put something out there in hopes that someone might read it and side up with you, but any true Mayer fan knows that fabricated nonsense is just, fabricated nonsense. Mayer is a phenomenal artist, songwriter, and lyricist. Mayer competes on levels, musically, that most can only dream of. Mayer is unquestionably, undoubtedly, and irrevocably one of the best musicians most of us have and will ever see.