John Mayer: How a ‘Recovered Ego Addict’ Blazed the Trail for Singer-Songwriters in the 21st Century

As guitar-strumming singer-songwriters like Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes enjoy commercial success, it's only fair to recognize the man who walked so they could run: John Mayer.

Written by Myah Taylor

Photo courtesy of Complex

Since the beginning of his illustrious career in the early 2000s, John Mayer has been a polarizing figure in the music industry and the eyes of the public. Many critics praised Mayer’s 2001 debut album Room For Squares for its sincerity and masterful guitar melodies, while others ridiculed its easy-listening sound,  calling it “pleasant fluff.”

Despite the criticism, Mayer cemented himself as a legitimate musician throughout the decade. Grammy wins for tracks like “Your Body is a Wonderland,” and “Daughters” validated Mayer’s songwriting and producing abilities. Mayer would reach even greater heights on his third album Continuum. The multi-Grammy award-winning LP strays away from Mayer’s earlier works by adopting a blues rock sound and featuring virtuosic guitar playing, most notably on “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” and “Gravity.”

Casual music fans may not realize how talented Mayer is with a guitar. While he may not be an innovator on the instrument, he champions the craft and has immense ability. Even Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Eric Clapton has praised Mayer’s musicianship. 

“He’s extremely gifted,” Clapton once said in an interview. “His facility is phenomenal. He is a master. I don’t even think he knows how good he is.”

But Mayer’s talents couldn’t save him from public backlash. By 2010, high-profile relationships and controversial Playboy and Rolling Stone interviews had damaged the musician’s image. After a decade of critical and commercial success, Mayer became Hollywood’s resident womanizer. Increased amount of media attention eventually led him to take a break from public life. 

Mayer relocated to Bozeman, Montana in 2012 to regroup. Over the next two years, he would release two country-western-inspired albums: Born and Raised and Paradise Valley.

As Mayer began to fade away from the mainstream in the early 2010s, new singer-songwriters emerged. Ed Sheeran burst onto the scene in 2012 with his hit single “The A Team.” If Mayer’s “Stop This Train” had an English counterpart in terms of sound and lyrical depth, “The A Team” would be it, as the track’s narrative storytelling and guitar-centric melodies take a page from his  catalogue. After decades of big hair, theatrics, and stage makeup, Mayer made just being a guy with a guitar okay again for artists like Sheeran. For Mayer’s performance of “Your Body is a Wonderland” at the 2003 Grammy Awards, the future bluesman was clad in a long-sleeved t-shirt, pants, and sneakers. A decade later, Sheeran would take the stage in similar get ups and sell out arenas.

Appearances aside, Sheeran has also mirrored Mayer’s musical style on some occasions but with more pop sensibilities. Sheeran’s 2015 hit “Thinking Out Loud”, for example,  features bluesy guitars mimicking those featured on Continuum. Tracks “Dive” and “What Do I Know?”  from Sheeran’s 2017 album Divide also pull from the blues rock sound Mayer embraced in the mid 2000s.

Since his debut in 2012, Sheeran has experienced  astronomical success, garnering seven top-ten hits with two peaking at No. 1. This level of commercial prosperity is something Mayer has never experienced. Even at his peak, most of his chart success came outside of the top ten.

When Sheeran performed “Thinking Out Loud” at the 2015 Grammy Awards, he invited Mayer and a few other guests on stage with him. Even though Mayer upstaged Sheeran’s guitar playing, the moment acted as a metaphorical passing of the torch from one singer-songwriter to the next.

Sheeran’s popularity is something Mayer said he welcomes. In a 2017 interview with USA Today, Mayer said, “I would take Ed Sheeran's worst idea on any day and it would be my biggest song of the year. For me, Ed's the voice, and that's the way it's supposed to be, as I transition into writing stuff that's deeper for me on a musical, artistic level...at the expense of being popular." 

Shawn Mendes is another artist born out of the singer-songwriter ethos in the 2010s. Mendes, who has also experienced great commercial success, cites Mayer as one of his major influences.

While Mendes comes across as a pure pop artist who merely uses a guitar as an accessory, his deeper cuts showcase Mayers’ influence. The song “Ruin” from his 2016 album Illuminate is essentially “Gravity” 2.0 with its whining guitar sound, kick drum beat, and drawn out, bluesy vocals.

Mendes can not only call Mayer an inspiration, but also a friend, as the two have developed a fun-loving relationship. The camaraderie between the two artists is one of understanding and respect for their individual contributions to their shared craft.

“It’s impossible to have a conversation with [Mayer] without some profound piece of advice coming out of his mouth,” Mendes said at the 2018 TIME 100 Gala, “But …  even John Mayer will ask me for advice on writing songs. For me, that’s the biggest lesson: even when the people you think have mastered what you aim to be, they still haven’t.”

After some soul searching, Mayer eventually reemerged in the 2010s. The self-described “recovered ego addict” isn’t churning out Top 40 hits like the other crooners he paved the way for, but he’s still making music and shredding away on the guitar. Tours with The Grateful Dead project Dead & Company, matters of the heart on his 2017 release The Search for Everything, and exploration of social media and meme culture (see Mayer’s video for “New Light”) have characterized Mayer’s decade.

Mayer, now 42, uses his experiences to help younger artists like Mendes avoid the mistakes he made in the past.

"Shawn's just a better version of me in a lot of ways," Mayer said in a May 2018 interview with Beats 1’s Zane Lowe. “Shawn's like John Mayer 2.0, without the weird software viruses. It's like, I was a beta version of a celebrity and he's just...a better version of a celebrity than I ever was.”

Through the ups and downs and the descent from mainstream prominence, Mayer has managed to become the forgotten pop artist that everyone still remembers. Even without hits on the charts, Mayer continues to sell out arenas and remain a topic of conversation.

Mendes’ and Sheeran’s success raises questions about Mayer’s career and why he wasn’t able to reach the same commercial heights despite pioneering a signature singer-songwriter sound at the turn of the century. Maybe the younger artists are more likeable. Perhaps their music is more accessible or pop-leaning. Or maybe, the world just wasn’t ready for Mayer and his sound to dominate the mainstream yet.

Either way, Mayer is content. A “musician’s musician,” he said he never wanted to be famous. Ten years removed from scandal, Mayer now picks and chooses when he wants to be in the spotlight. 

“I like where I've ended up, put it that way,” Mayer said in the Beats 1 interview. “Now that everything's sort of flattened out and we've leveled out at cruising altitude, it's lovely. I feel like my ambitions have settled down. I've retired from a certain type of ambition, which I think is right.”

But one thing Mayer can’t control is his influence on guitar-playing singer-songwriters everywhere. With each strum of his six string, Mayer set the stage for the artists who came after him, blazing a trail that led to success.