John Mayer never really went away after sticking both feet in his mouth in a one-two combo of infamously terrible interviews, but the guitarist, known equally for his technical skill as he is for the baby-soft pop songs, is ready to come back into the Top 40 as he pushes 40 himself. He’s modeling his return on the unstoppable and unflagging career of George Clooney.
“There’s a guy who can make art house films and then just decide that he’s going to be in a blockbuster,” Mayer said in a new interview with The New York Times. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘O.K., I’m going to basically come out of retirement from blockbusters.’ It’s a choice to write pop songs, just like it’s a choice to write blues songs or folk songs. Let’s write the big ones that we are capable of writing.”
What Mayer is capable of writing is The Search for Everything, an album that he describes as an attempt to start writing songs aimed at women again.
“I’m a young guy,” he said. “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.”
Though Mayer seems like he’s learned from his mistakes and wants to avoid the slips that turned his name into horndog shorthand and saying that he really wants to settle down.
“I wish there was somebody to throw me the 40th,” he said, before mentioning that he’d like to have a child. “I want the baby with the protective earphones. Adding, “I’m right on time for my career, and I’m running late for my life.”
Check out the rest of the interview over at The New York Times.
