By Kwaak Je-yup

Few recording artists today can match the level of commercial success and critical acclaim John Mayer has achieved over the last decade. His latest studio album “Born and Raised” topped Billboard as well as several other charts worldwide when it was released on May 22 to rave reviews.

But his life in the public sphere has been a bit more troublesome. Controversial interviews about his celebrity relationships and other gaffes have kept Mayer as puzzling a person as when he first hit it big with “No Such Thing,” a song about being a loner in high school.

In this fifth studio album — a culmination of a two-year break from singing after the surgical removal of a granuloma in his throat — all signs say he is making a complete departure from the party-boy years. In this email interview with The Korea Times, he says he is happy with his newfound freedom and career progression. The self-penned songs may reek of loneliness, yet Mayer feels he found his “own authentic self” in the recent seclusion.

Earlier this year he had to cancel his world tour due to nagging throat problems, but his creative juices seem to be in no short supply for the foreseeable future.

The Korea Times: How has the throat condition affected you over these years? How is it now?

A: I am still in a condition where my throat isn’t perfect to handle the promotion schedules and any other things. When I had the surgery, my throat needed time to heal. I took not even a month off. Because I had now this new download, this kind of fresh download, not just musically but lifestyle wise — how I just wanted to give it all back to music again. And I become very excited and upset with myself because I hear someone do something that I would love to have come out of me. ...And so I heard these sounds and I was, I was really intrigued and attracted to the idea that you can... you can have your first record twice like... can I be a part of something organic? Can I be a part of the excitement that usually accompanies someone’s first record? Can I have that back? You know it was a weird sort of nostalgia and sadness for those really energetic, formative, beginning years.

Q: Tells us about the new album. It seems like a huge departure from the past.

A: I remember being on tour for “Battle Studies” (his fourth studio album released in 2009)... I was in the middle of a winter tour... when this thing kind of turned over, when I went from mark one to mark two, so to speak. It was really frustrating because I had to finish out supporting this record that was, I think, at the tail end of sort of these musical ideals that I had for a long time. And I remember being in bed listening to like “After the Gold Rush” (Neil Young’s 1970 record), or maybe even discovering some stuff that I’d be embarrassed to say took me so long to find, but like Bob Dylan albums that aren’t sort of “Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” (1963) or “Times They Are a-Changin’” (1964), like Bob Dylan albums like New Morning and stuff. And finding such great music there...
And I am not a cover boy anymore. And if I was, if people are confused now, I think it’s that the story is getting straight now... I’m so much more comfortable now because I feel like my target is so much more within range of wanting to be a singer/songwriter. Singer/songwriters aren’t supposed to be everywhere all the time. Singer/songwriters are very departmental. They are very niche. Which is what gives them their power, is that you feel like you’re listening to something that not everybody is listening to.

Q: Your lyrics: there is so much loneliness. Being one of the world’s most recognized stars, is there more of it now than before?

A: Now I am so free. Those two years of disconnection are such a gift to me now that I don’t want to re-connect just yet, or ever. I like having my own philosophy. It might confuse people sometimes. But I’m my own authentic self. And it’s a little lonely sometimes but I don’t really have anybody to look up to. I don’t mean that career wise. But I don’t really have anybody to aspire to being right now so I might as well just aspire to being myself. I think there might be something cool back behind the tree-line if you just keep going, and going, and going. If you’re going to take a month off from college, take two years off of college, take four years. You know, keep exploring.

Q: The song “Something Like Olivia” (from “Born and Raised”): I love your honesty. It’s not a sweet love song but an ode to your impulses, desires and loneliness. But you’ve had some trouble with the media and misunderstandings with the public. And the message of this song could be a little problematic. Do you think about the impact of your songs to the public before you write/release new material?

A: The biggest mistake I made and what cost me a lot of enjoyment in my life was assuming that everybody cared. They don’t. Everything in my life was like do you like or do you not like me? But I never gave the third box a shot which is you just not care either way (sic). And that’s not bad news to find out that people don’t care either way; it’s good news because you feel like there’s less of a battle to fight. And now I’m really happy.I know I don’t appear... I don’t know I’m not very good at feigning happiness but I am very happy and settled in where I am and I’m ready to set up my little lemonade stand and say ... here’s what I do and I’m sorry I ever tried to be a larger entity than my songs were supposed to be, because I’m not sitting around trying to calculate how to reach the most people. And I don’t even want to anymore.

I want to be the guy that makes people feel like they picked something that is special to them. And I don’t know if that’s a million records, I don’t know if it’s gold, I don’t know what it is, but that’s not my concern anymore. I’m not concerned with cultivating someone else’s idea of me. That’s a terrible pursuit.