The July 7 release of Speak Now (Taylor's Version) (2023), by Taylor Swift (12/13/1989, Sagittarius Snake), a re-recording of the acclaimed songwriter's classic album from 2010, has reportedly worried fellow musician, John Mayer (10/16/1977, Libra Snake). At a recent performance, Mayer displayed the message, "Please Be Kind", in purple lights that appeared to hark back to the tones of Swift's original Speak Now era.

Mayer's apprehension most likely relates to the song, "Dear John", which Swift penned after the two musicians dated and broke up during 2009 to 2010. A now-iconic break-up track, which poignantly references a 12-year age gap, "Dear John" includes lyrics such as, "Don't you think nineteen's too young, To be played by your dark, twisted games when I loved you so?...All the girls that you've run dry have tired lifeless eyes, 'Cause you burned them out." Interviewed in 2012, Mayer described, "I never got an email. I never got a phone call. I was really caught off guard...['Dear John' is] cheap songwriting. It's abusing your talent to rub your hands together and go, 'Wait til he gets a load of this!' That's bulls–t." His own song, "Paper Doll" (2012), with the refrain, "You're like twenty-two girls in one, And none of them know what they're runnin' from," was widely interpreted as a response to "Dear John".

The Year of the Snake energy, which Swift and Mayer share, is famously associated with philosophy and music—the "art of the Muses". As well as Swift and Mayer themselves, celebrated Snake musicians include luminaries such as Bob Dylan (05/24/1941, Gemini Snake), Billie Eilish (12/18/2001, Sagittarius Snake), Dr. Dre (02/18/1965, Aquarius Snake), Björk (11/21/1965, Scorpio Snake), Shania Twain (08/28/1965, Virgo Snake), Kanye West (06/08/1977, Gemini Snake), and both Paul Simon (10/13/1941, Libra Snake) and Art Garfunkel (11/05/1941, Scorpio Snake). The Snake is also associated with great sensitivity, and sometimes jealousy, especially in matters of love.

Own-sign matches often bring a lack of balance, sometimes easily managed, sometimes more difficult. On the Western side, however, Swift and Mayer's Sextile Sagittarius/Libra connection can usually be relied on to contribute a relaxed, dependable influence. At a show recorded on June 24, Swift was recorded saying, "[I would love for] kindness and gentleness to extend to our internet activities....I’m putting this album out because I want to own my music and I believe that any artists who has the desire to own their own music should be able to. I’m 33 years old. I don’t care about anything that happened to me when I was 19, except the songs I wrote. I’m not putting this album out so that you can go [and] defend me on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about 14 million years ago."