The idea of this song came to Mayer in a dream: “I woke up with the song in my head called ‘Half of My Heart,'” he recalled. “And the idea is that it’s this real sort of updated – not that it needs to be updated – sort of Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks thing.” He added. “I thought, ‘Well, if this is going to be my love letter to that style of music, who’s going to be the Stevie Nicks in this equation?’ And I thought, ‘This Taylor Swift girl is going to be around for a long time.’”
Mayer on playing with Steve Jordan on drums and Pino Palladino on bass: “There was the muscular addition that just gives it the interesting sort of center of gravity. Without Steve and Pino underneath, I think most of my songs would completely float away. “Half of My Heart” would have been a complete pop disaster if it weren’t for Steve’s grit.”