Why John Mayer Deserves A Second Act At Public Redemption

Life is weird. Sometimes you run hot. Sometimes you run cold. There are moments of personal triumph and moments of personal anguish. Sometimes you exhaust yourself, slamming against the wall you knew you’d inevitably swerve into. It’s just part of a rollercoaster of highs and lows. The key is to piece yourself together and enjoy the ride.

Like any certified Bro, John Mayer is a chill dude who has had some unchill moments. When his celebrity got to his head in 2010, on the heels of relationships with Taylor Swift and Jennifer Aniston, he blabbed off to journalists at Rolling Stone and Playboy in a true display of celebrity cocksmanship. He called his penis “David Duke” and referred to himself as “sexual napalm.” He became “that guy”, even though Mayer being “that guy” was hardly earth-shattering. It was coming from the man who wrote “Your Body Is A Wonderland,” after all.

That was seven years ago. He was 32 at the time. Then he took a big step out of the spotlight following his break-up with Katy Perry, mellowed out in Montana, and started playing Grateful Dead songs with Bobby Weir, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann. He might still crash the occasional sorority ball with Monet Weir and her parents at the age of 39, but the dude appears to have moved on from the douchiness that earned him so much negative notoriety years ago.

Today Mayer’s the subject of a lengthy New York Times profile on his second act in the spotlight. It opens with him looking back at “flatlining” circa 2010:

At 32 and obsessed with outsmarting the idea of a “clichéd rock star,” he explained, “I started to invent my own grenade.” (His big mouth.) He was “a Mack Truck without brakes.” Tabloid fame was “a human-growth hormone” and “extracurricular stuff” anyway, Mr. Mayer said. “I basically realized I’m no good at that, so I’m going to drop that major.” Also: “What I did was probably semiconsciously just reboot it — control, alt, delete.” “It was an induced coma.” His career had “flatlined.” “It was cat and mouse,” he said, “and the mouse lost.”

Now approaching 40, “I’m old enough to look back on my life and go: ‘That’s probably the photonegative shot in ‘Behind the Music,’” Mr. Mayer said. “Coming up after the break — boom — the downfall.”

I’m of the opinion that Mayer deserves another chance, from music fans and pop culture at large. He won me over with his work with The Dead, along with his charisma on social media. The man made Costco’s $20 Kirkland 11 sneakers ironically cool while also making fun of the absurdity of hypebeast sneaker drops.

The idea that Mayer actually deserves another chance doesn’t sit over well with everyone. Blogs publish hit pieces like this one (…Paper Mag snarkily calls today’s NYT profile the world’s worst Tinder date) and last week I got this e-mail from a Deadhead sick of me homering for the guy here on BroBible.

Is it necessary to slag off one of the greatest American writers and bash his mentally unstable wife in praise of John fucking Mayer?

Mayer is still an ego addicted; ergo a hat self-serving as he took out. Ask any head that has seen Jerry and we’d all still rather see Kimock and Haynes. Although Mayer does shred, he’s nothing special.

Way to bro it up for Mayer!

Damn straight I’m going to Bro it up for the guy. I have my reasons, beyond him wingmaning it up for his boy Andy Cohen. (A. he’s hella talented — watch the man play guitar with Derek Trucks and BB King if you think he’s just pop sap (B. He’s hella charismatic — peep his album release video on Intagram. And (C. — He’s FINALLY self-aware. His public figure is positive for the world, a reminder that pop stardom is fun when it’s all a giant inside joke with your fans. THANK GOD there’s a celebrity with talent beyond reality TV who realizes their own celebrity isn’t something that shouldn’t be taken all that seriously.

If you like music at, you’ll give him that second act.

 

As further proof to support my thesis for Mayer’s great second coming, here are his choicest quotes from today’s NYT piece. These are all the reasons you should like the damn guy.

1. He just wants to be liked:  

“I’m a young guy. I like girls. I want girls to like me. I want to make music and be thought of as attractive. I was finally ready to re-enter that world and grow back into it.”

2. He’s incredibly introspective about his relationships, as transcends through the songwriting on his new album:

It’s also pretty plainly about missing his most recent ex, Ms. Perry, a fact that he acknowledged might get the tabloids chirping again. “Who else would I be thinking about?” he said. “And by the way, it’s a testament to the fact that I have not dated a lot of people in the last five, six years. That was my only relationship. So it’s like, give me this, people.”

3. That said, he’s on Tinder Select, which is a “secret” Tinder that’s just for celebrities. But like Tinder in general, it doesn’t really go anywhere: 

Since splitting with Ms. Perry, he’s hardly been out at all, he insisted, though he does fiddle around on an exclusive dating app. “It’s just lot of chatter,” he said. “We all talk to the same people. There are very few people actually meeting up.”

4. He’s all about living his best life, realizing how burnt out he was at the “bad boy” life. Also, he quit drinking:   

It’s a process. Though he’s been in therapy to work on his “attachment style” and recently quit drinking (“I’m actually very thoughtfully entering cannabis life”), Mr. Mayer is wary that his notoriety as a womanizer precedes him. “I’ve inherited a younger man’s reputation,” he said. “You can even break ‘bad boy’ into good bad boy and bad bad boy — I somehow managed to become a bad version of a bad boy.”

5. Now approaching 40, he’s getting serious about settling down and wanting kids: 

But as he approaches a milestone birthday, “I wish there was somebody to throw me the 40th,” Mr. Mayer said, leaning into his corniness. “I want the baby with the protective earphones” by the side of the stage. He’s even been living out of a hotel for fear of establishing another bachelor pad. “I want to say, ‘We’ll take it,’” he said, adding, “I’m right on time for my career, and I’m running late for my life.”

6. The man shows real gratitude for the positive forces of change in his life. 

Go read the whole thing over at the New York Times… 

I can’t wait to throw on some freshly copped Kirckland 11s to show my support for the guy. And as I’ve said before, as a 30-something, this quote will always be my favorite way at approaching this stage of the man’s career: