John Mayer On 'Love On The Weekend' Inspiration & Teases New Album

It's been a few years without new music from John Mayer, but last month (Nov. 17), the Grammy-winning singer/songwriter shared his brand new single "Love On The Weekend," and announced that he has a brand new album on the way called The Search For Everything. John's new record will be his sixth studio album, and follows his 2013 album Paradise Valley, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. 

As for his new single, "Love On The Weekend," the song is John's first new release since his cover of Beyoncé's "XO," and his first original music since Paradise Valley. The single has hit the top five on the Billboard US Hot Rock Songs chart, and in John's own words is "a vibe-y little number all about getting away for the weekend."

The 39-year-old from Bridgeport, Connecticut recently told us all about his new single, and what fans can expect from The Search For Everything when he stopped by iHeartRadio HQ in New York City for an exclusive interview.

On the writing process/inspiration behind "Love On The Weekend"

"Living out in California for the last few years, there is this sense every Friday that people disappear; in other cities you tend to sort of stay put. But I think I'm in love with the notion of 'the getaway,' the California PCH [Pacific Coast Highway] drive getaway, and as a songwriter, if I can exemplify a feeling, then I get to keep it forever. The 'Love on the Weekend' idea was one that I've been banging around for years, because I wanted a song to sort of symbolize it, and to sort of ceremonially always have it. When I came up with the music, it felt exactly like the lyrics felt to me, it felt exactly like that idea [that I] felt, and when I started singing on it, I went, 'there's my song.'"

So it goes to show you that you can try to write a song for three years, and then in 20 minutes find the right ... it's like matching socks sometimes. You go 'here's a lyric idea, and here's a melodic idea, and here's a music idea,' and they all just played nice that day. And now I have a song! I will never forget the the day that I came in to play guitar on something else, and had this really reverb-y guitar sound, and I swear, just out of nowhere I just started playing it, I went 'hit record.' And there are these moments as a writer where you go 'no one's going anywhere.' And I walked around in a trance just writing lyrics out in my [phone]; I mean, I still have them all in my phone. I've always wanted a song called 'Love on the Weekend,' and I still have songs in my mind I'm dying to get the music for, because I want to write about it."

The title for John's upcoming album comes from song lyrics that he began to write, which included "the endless search for everything." These words of a work in process caused him to reflect, and he tells us The Search For Everything seemed bold and summed up his life pretty well.

On the meaning behind the album title The Search for Everything

"I was standing in my bathroom one morning, I started writing these lyrics. Some days I have it, some days I don't. Most days I don't. I started writing all these lyrics out and ended up writing, 'and the endless search for everything,' and this was sort of the way that each stanza closed out. And I just saw the words 'the search for everything,' and I went 'that's big.' That's big and bold, and it sounds like it should be embossed on a giant book that two people have to carry. I thought that really does sum up everything in my life right now, or everything in my life since the day I was born. It was like looking at something over the horizon and going 'What's that? Bring me that. I want to mess with it. I want to get into it, I want to do it.' So for better and worse, I've always engaged with everything that way and I think at a certain point in my life that I'm at now, this record is about figuring out what am I going for, and what am I not."

Being that this is John's first album since 2013, fans are anxious to listen to the record. So, aside from "Love On The Weekend," what else can you expect to hear on The Search For Everything? The 39-year-old tells us the songs will vary stylistically, and describes it as "almost like a mixtape."

On what fans can expect to hear on The Search For Everything

"It's almost like a couple of songs from each facet of what I do. So, it's not like everything sounds like one [style] ... it's almost like a mixtape. It really was like 'may the best song win.' I'm not trying to achieve one vibe on this record. I want every song to be like 'That one's good too. That one feels good too.' So I actually like what it might do; like if someone buys this record for 'Love on the Weekend,' but they also get another song that sounds nothing like it, I think that's exciting. I think that's almost what you need to do now. There's a reason EDM records work really well, because there's a different singer on each song. And so it's a little bit like me being a different singer on each song. Sometimes I'm in falsetto, it doesn't even sound like me. Sometimes I'm singing a bluesy thing, sometimes it's me singing a folky thing. It's like a little sampler of everything."

Listen to "Love On The Weekend" below.