Mayer has a new outlook on life

By MESFIN FEKADU

AP Music Writer

NEW YORK

Sure, John Mayer will likely debut at No. 1 next week with his latest album. But he says “Paradise Valley” marks a new chapter in his career: He’s no longer obsessing about dominating the charts, though his decade-long career has included platinum-plus albums and Top 40 hits.

“I’m getting older and people seem to be staying the same age ... so at any moment if someone says, ‘It was really nice having you, just if you don’t mind stepping this way?’ I would go, ‘Oh, I get it. I get it,”’ he said.

This attitude is part of Mayer’s new approach on becoming a changed man. He even checks himself when he sees moments of success, like when the music video of his first single, “Paper Doll,” earned millions of views in its first days online.

“You think you’re really crushing it and you look at Miley Cyrus’ video and there’s like 46 million,” said Mayer, referring to Cyrus’ edgy “We Can’t Stop,” which has racked up 148 million views.

In a recent interview, Mayer was as talkative as ever, but seemed to have a new sense of calmness as he discussed how his life has shifted in the last three years. He overcame a throat injury thanks to Botox injections last year, but the injury left him on voice rest for months and sidelined his performances. “I don’t drink really anymore. I warm up before I sing. I warm down,” he said. “I do whatever I can. I don’t want to lose that part of my life again.”

His voice isn’t fully recovered, but he was able to record “Paradise Valley,” released Tuesday. The 11-track set, which features girlfriend Katy Perry and Frank Ocean, has a cool, light feel that merges pop, country and blues sounds. Mayer wrote some of it last summer, and newer tracks were added months ago, like the confessional duet with Perry.

The new album comes one year after “Born and Raised,” though he normally takes longer breaks between albums.

“Maybe all the crazy years, the noisy kind of years were just to get to a place where I could have tenure and put a record out,” said Mayer.

The “crazy years” have been well-documented: His famous girlfriends (Jennifer Aniston and Jessica Simpson among them) and infamous breakups; his overshares on Twitter that led him to shut down his account; and his attempts at humor that backfired.

Instead of being known for his Grammy-winning artistry — Rolling Stone crowned him one of the contemporary guitar gods — he was becoming known as an unsavory tabloid fixture. But he knows he was the root of most of the drama that surrounded him.

“My pulse beats a whole different way now. ... It’s like there’s no possible way I could stay the same human being that I was in 2010,” said Mayer. “My worst day of overthinking was nowhere near the sort of C-4 I strapped to my own ankles and not knowing it. I think I was more interested in the idea that I was the one strapping the bomb on, so at least I got that man. Just don’t forget who the bomber is! Yeah, but you’re the one blowing up.”

Some people might question how much he has changed given that he hasn’t quit one habit — having a celebrity girlfriend. Perry appears on “Who You Love,” a raw, acoustic-based tune about innocently falling in love. He’s open when talking about the pop star — he says he loves her nearly a dozen times in this interview.

Mayer knows that recording a Mayer, who grew up in Connecticut but now lives in Montana, is on a tour that wraps next month. He says he doesn’t regret the bumps he’s encountered because it has led him to the Zen place he appears to be in. Michael McDonald, the singer’s longtime manager, says the best word to describe the 35-year-old today is “seasoned.”

“He had a lot of downtime and I think for the first time in his career it offered him the opportunity to really, really, genuinely slow down and sit back,” he said, “and really create the album and the mood he wanted to create.”