“Battle Studies” — his fourth studio album — is what he describes as perhaps his most lyrically complex, and yet at the same time, his most straightforward. Now a veteran musician and producer, he has more confidence and experience when making a record: “I don’t see it as a series of winning bets. I see it as something I do for a living.”
“He was at best defined as a Lothario — at worst, a cad. But what has been potentially more damaging is that in some circles, it has overshadowed his musicianship.”You know what I really like? I like when people say to me, ‘Gee, I didn’t know he could play like that,”’ said drummer Steve Jordan, the album’s co-producer who has worked with Mayer for at least five years on various projects. “(People) see a People magazine or a Us (Weekly) magazine and they think that’s what it’s all about.”